


Jessica Jones: Girlfriend of the Year

by Redsilkthread



Category: Daredevil (TV), Iron Fist (TV), Jessica Jones (TV), Luke Cage (TV), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: F/F, First Meetings, Gen, Non-Linear Narrative, Protective Jessica Jones, Slight AU from the Defenders, Snippets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2018-12-22 09:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11964753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redsilkthread/pseuds/Redsilkthread
Summary: Jessica Jones, likes her girlfriend. Quite a lot if Luke, Danny, and Matt had anything to say about it. But, Luke, Danny, and Matt need to shut the fuck up about her love life they they know what's good for them.





	1. Of Backpacks and Sad Girlfriends

Jessica Jones tries very hard not to have a lot of things to worry about. If she could keep a list, she would prefer to keep to worrying about the bare essentials of an independent woman living in New York. Paying the bills, keeping a roof over her head, making sure her clients have the most accurate info she could give them, occasionally making sure said clients don’t kill their spouses for cheating on them. 

 

Simple day to day life of a citizen (and reluctant protector) of New York, and she would like to keep it that way, thank you very much, the less things she's concerned about the better. Well...Barring the fact that she's surrounded by superhuman vigilantes/heroes/kung-fu masters with great destiny. She tried to figure out out how to compartmentalize those two parts of her life, and to keep them separate. 

 

She's failed on that regard quite spectacularly.

 

So now while Jessica would like to ignore that part of her life as much as she can, there's really no separating it. Sure, it was nice to have Luke back in her life. Matt is great guy to have around, especially if she had particularly difficult jobs that involves a little bit of lie detecting and ass kicking. And Danny is a good kid once you get past the whole ‘I was raised by monks and punched a dragon’ spiel.

 

And then there's the Parkers.

 

The Parkers, took her simple New Yorker life and her not so simple New Yorker life and slammed them together so hard, the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen would be proud. And with growing dread, both aunt  _ and  _ nephew rapidly made their way to the top of her list; with the top three being.

 

3) Peter’s stereotypical teenage habit of staying up too late. May or Jessica finding him draped over his pile of homework. (I lost my backpack and I had to start my homework all over again!)  
2) Peter’s stereotypical vigilante habit of staying out late. Coming home with his backpack missing, poorly hiding bruises and cuts all over himself (“...I judged that turn wrong and hit a wall?”)

 

Yeah, she wasn't going to humor Peter over that ‘I hit a wall’ BS. She’s friends with Matthew “I Am Bruised and Bleeding and Solely Running on Fumes and Catholicism” Murdoch and she knows a bruise from a well placed punch in the face when she sees one. 

 

Although, based on that livestream she and May saw earlier that night, it wasn't exactly a good old punch to the face as it was a cinder block coming at 50 miles per hour to the face. May’s hands were shaking two minutes into the video and was almost in hysterics not long after when Peter’s body slammed into the concrete for the third time and didn't get up for a whole fucking minute. It could have gone worse if Iron Man hadn't shown up when he did.

 

Which leads to Jessica’s number one:

 

  1. May, taking it upon herself to know everything Spider-Man does, because Peter is a little shit and doesn't tell May everything that's going on when he's out.



 

Oh if it had only entailed the usual teenage rebellion bullshit. Unfortunately, Jessica’s girlfriend just so happen to have the luck of being the legal guardian to a bite sized vigilante.

 

“I know he doesn't want me to worry, Jess, but what am I supposed to do?” May cried in her shoulder that night, they were both in bed, May's head pillowed over Jessica’s shoulder, her fingers clutching onto her shirt. 

 

Somewhere on the other side of the apartment, Jessica knew that Peter could hear May crying. She just knew both of them are going to be a mess tomorrow.

 

\---

 

And comes the next day, both of them would be at the kitchen making breakfast; May would be at the stove while Jess man's the coffee maker (Cream and chocolate syrup for Peter, Almond milk for May, and Plain black for Jess). Peter would wander in and sit in his usual side of the table looking like death bitch slapped him in the face. 

 

May would look about the same as she places Peter’s breakfast in front of him. She gives him a quick kiss on the top of his head and embraces him. Peter leans in and hugs her back. If it seemed like it dragged on, well...no one has any right to judge how long a hug should last.

 

It's almost a sad and fucked up routine for the both of them. Peter goes out, gets hurt, and May would feel helpless. Peter - god help his stupid little soul- would hide it, and May worries even more. At this point in time, there's nothing much else that hasn't been said between the both of them that Jessica hasn’t heard.  _ I want to be out there protecting people, like I couldn't Uncle Ben  _ or  _ Ben would have been proud but I just can't lose you, too  _ and  _ I'm scared for you.  _

 

_ Please come back home safe. _

 

It's every single fear, determination, and love is expressed in a hug, while they're caught in that moment in time. 

 

All the while the world turns and Jessica walks along with it, keeping the rest of their little world running. She heads for the stove top and starts making breakfast for May and herself. When Peter leaves for the day, Jessica places their plate on the table. “We should go and eat now before this gets cold.” She says quietly, May nods and starts on her meal.

 

Jessica sits across from May, where Peter sat a few moments ago. It's a fairly small table, enough to fit two people. Despite its size, it was comfortable. Even when May started inviting Jess to stay over for dinner a few months into their relationship, it was still perfect. Jessica’s new spot on their tiny dining room table didn’t feel like a wedge in a tight seat, but it felt more like a welcome addition.

 

Jessica finishes breakfast first, she stands and takes her plate to the sink and returns to the table and sits on May's side. She pulls her girlfriend into her arms and let's her lean on her shoulder. May sighs against Jessica’s neck, finding comfort in the others hand carding through her hair.

 

“You know I'll do whatever I can to keep him safe, right?” She says over May's head.

 

May leans in even more and wraps her arm around Jessica, the beginnings of a smile forming against the latter's skin. 

 

“I know you will.”

 

\--

If Jessica, Danny, Luke, or Daredevil became more prominent figures in Spider-Man’s life, Jessica doesn’t hear him complaining. Danny’s always available for backup in a good brawl out whenever he's in town. Luke’s always happy to lend Spider-Man a hand if it involves people in Harlem. Daredevil takes it upon himself to teach Peter some of his fighting moves. And Jessica…

 

Jessica makes sure that they do.

 

But that doesn’t mean she let’s them do all the work for her. Jessica cares for Peter because of how much she means to May, and she makes sure that Peter has someone other than Karen the AI to do some good old fashioned research (because, fuck you Stark and your fancy omnipotent AI) or someone he can soundboard off of if he can’t go to May. Peter also appreciates it whenever Jessica throws a punch or thirty, or maybe even throw an actual person if she needed too. 

 

And as much as she hates it (“No you don't” says a voice that sounds annoyingly like Matt Murdock). Whenever she sees the telltale signs of Spider-Man’s webs she'll find the closest dumpster and grabs the stupid backpack off the blob of webs he lodged it into. Doesn't matter if she spends the rest of the day carting the stupid thing around. But if it keeps Peter from losing his homework and pulling all nighters completely unrelated to being Spider-Man, then it’s a cross she just has to bear. Especially if it also lessens the likelihood of May crying over Peter’s slipping grades or well being.

 

The things she does for love...

 

“ _ Is that my backpack _ ?!” Peter openly points to her one night. 

 

It was one of those rare nights when the four of them took on a fight together. A hostage situation and with too many potential casualties. Normally, Jessica stays out of any fighting unless it's close enough to her home or Queens. But lately she goes whenever Peter’s out with Danny and the others. This night, Peter caught wind of a hostage situation in a fucking Target of all places, and contacts Danny.  

 

Danny who just so happened to be in the vicinity, texted Luke who in turn texted her. It was a typical get together but without the Chinese food (and a distinct lack of leather and horns this night) and Jessica was a little disappointed. Peter sneaks in from the rooftop and Danny tries to sneak from the loading area. But, like all good plans made between heroes, it always goes to shit. Next thing anyone knew, it was an all-out brawl-out with Spider-Man webbing every criminal to every surface, and Danny and Jessica knocking anyone out that's carrying a gun. Luke took it upon himself to jump in and out of the fight making sure to shield any hostage he’s trying to escort out of the way. 

 

In the end, no one  _ innocent _ was hurt, and all members of the guilty party are either in various states of unconscious or are webbed to the walls and aisles. 

 

“No, Bug Boy,” Jessica sighs shouldering the bag after picking it up from the corner she hid it in. “This is my girlfriend’s kid’s bag, he left it in my office when he passed by this afternoon”.

 

She levels him with a glare.

 

The kid was quiet, and the lenses on his suit widens in realization when he finally takes the hint. 

 

“Oh!” he says, laughing at himself, “It looked almost exactly like the one I owned, I was starting to think you were stealing my stuff, Jess!”

 

Jessica snorts and laughs along, “Oh please, like I’d take your shi- stuff! You probably have spider eggs or dead flies for lunch in there or something. The brat’s been forgetting it everywhere, the little scatterbrain, because he’s got so much going on at the same time. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on it if he just asks me. That way he wouldn’t come home crying about how he lost his Spanish homework.”

 

Spider-Man stayed quiet after that and Jessica takes it as her cue to leave. She makes her way to the food aisles to pick up some coffee and cream for May, some fruits, a box of cereal, and chips for Peter, and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s for herself. Peter shows up at her side not long after that and helps her carry some of the stuff, and they head for the front; making sure some of the men stayed unconscious on the way. Luke and Danny are waiting for them in the front lobby, making sure everyone is safe outside and to tell the police it’s clear to come in and make their arrests.

 

“Jessica…” Luke levels her with a glare after seeing her and Peter’s pile of groceries.

 

“Oh for fucks sake, Luke!” she says, stuffing everything in a few plastic bags, and flinches belatedly; so much for not cussing in front of Peter…”I’ll be paying for all of these! Look, here’s my wallet, I’m dropping a hundred bucks right here on the register. Let me tape it so it won’t fly off. Happy?”

 

Luke just sighs while Danny looks like he’s trying to hold down his laughter. “Okay, guys, let’s go head out. We’ll let the police handle the rest.”

 

“Good” Danny says pulling his hoodie over his head, “I’d rather not be the one to explain why there’s a dumpster in the kid’s aisle.”   
  
Spider-Man turns to the three of them, “Wait, who  _ was _ the one that did that?”

 

The two older men turned their heads towards Jessica.

 

“No fucking way! How did you even get that in there?!”

 

“Language, brat!” the pot snaps snaps to the kettle, “Thought we’d be done faster if I rammed a few guys with it, Luke helped me break some walls to get it in from the loading docks.”

 

“Damn…”

 

The four of them split up not long after. Luke headed for the subway with Danny tagging along with him, Jessica could see the younger man pull out his phone. Probably contacting his banker to make an anonymous donation to the store, the guy developed a compulsory need to donate money whenever they’re responsible for public damage. 

 

Spider-Man makes his way up the rooftops not long after that, and Jessica is left to make her way back to May’s with Peter’s backpack and groceries in tow.

 

“Jess!” she hears Peter running down the street wearing one of the spare clothes he hides around the neighborhood, “are you heading to Aunt May’s with all those?”

 

“Yeah, kid. C’mon help me out with these.”

 

“Sure thing!”

 

Peter grabs the groceries and made their way to May's apartment. 

 

“Jess,” Peter says about a block away from the apartment, “Did you mean what you said about my bag?” 

 

“Obviously!” She replies, “or at least tell me where you hid it and if you need me to pick it up, I'll take it back to May’s or my place.”

 

“Thanks, Jess!” Peter’s smile is a bit too infectious, she couldn’t help but smile back. 

 

They walk in a comfortable silence for a while. About a block away from May’s apartment, Jessica stops Peter.

 

“Hey Peter,” she begins, shifting the bag of groceries on her hand, “Look, I know you have Stark’s tech and your spider powers to protect you, but… May worries a lot when you’re out there.”

 

“I know that Jess-!” Peter tells her back, but Jessica cuts him off.

 

“And I know, Stark cares about you enough jump in when you’re way in over your head. But, Peter, don’t act like you’re all alone in this. It worked well for the four of us for a while there, but all of us knew that we would be better off with a few people who have our backs.”   
  
Jessica thinks back to the incident in Midland Circle and how it was the biggest fucking miracle that the lot of them got out of there intact, dragging each other’s sorry assess out of Midland Circle. She wouldn’t be out here a year later, the four of them meeting up at the Royal Dragon (newly rebuilt thanks to Dan and his spiritual need to be charitable) teasing each other over a few bottles of whiskey or beer. She wouldn’t be friends with Claire and Karen who she swears are fucking saints considering how they put up with all of them. Nor would she be friends with Colleen who she shares a bond with when it came to manipulative assholes in their lives and how much they deserve a special place in Matt’s Catholic hell.

 

She wouldn’t have met May six months ago in a minute clinic in Brooklyn.

 

“So don’t think I wouldn’t come running if you asked for help, Peter.  Fuck, we would  _ all _ come running in even if you  _ didn’t  _ ask for help. Because we all know we shouldn’t be doing this alone, and we all care about you.”

 

\--

 

They make it back to May’s around 11 that night. Both of them walk in with a few bags of groceries and Peter’s backpack on Jessica’s shoulders. If May notices the tear streaks down Peter’s happy and smiling face, or the fact that Jessica and Peter are more casual with other while telling May about what they did in Target, she didn’t say anything about it. 

 

But the long and deep kiss May gave her girlfriend the next morning shows how much she appreciates Jessica being a part of her’s and her nephew’s lives.


	2. When Jessica Met May pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time Jessica met May, it was in a minute clinic in Brooklyn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who took their time to read this fic!  
> I wasn't expecting such a positive reception to the first chapter and I hope this one would be just as good. I decided to make this one a three part pic, mainly because I wanted to split the fic into more manageable parts. Plus I just couldn't wait lol.  
> Hope everyone enjoys this one!

The first time Jessica met May, it was in a minute clinic in Brooklyn.

 

Not because  _ she  _ needed to be in it, Jessica isn’t even sure when the last time she actually got sick. Her current client, Craig Henderson, walks into her office one afternoon, asking Jessica to tail her wife so he could look for a solid reason for a divorce. Henderson’s wife was a nurse practitioner in the very same clinic Jessica is in now. He suspects that his wife has someone on the side in her workplace and he’s hoping to get solid evidence. It's your simple ‘I want to know if my spouse is cheating’ job and and she needed an ‘in’ to get more info.  So if her job insists that she has to do some research inside a minute clinic by pretending to be injured, then so be it.

 

“So that's why you want me here?” Matt says in her general direction.

 

“Despite what you believe Matt, Catholicism is not a healing factor, and you really should get yourself looked at” Jessica says from a chair across from him, filling out forms for Matt despite his protests. “Besides, you're the only one I can count on for things like these. Danny’s out backpacking in Honduras or I don’t know fucking Idaho, and Luke’s Luke and he's human vibranium. So that leaves you.”

 

“So it's not because I have three bruised ribs and a black eye, huh?” Matt says in a deadpan tone. “and here I thought you cared about me.”

 

“I guess that too.”

 

“Wow, I can feel the love all the way from here Jess.”

 

“You better appreciate it, Matt. I'm in a very mothering mood today.”

 

Jessica turns in their paperwork tossing in Matt’s insurance card in when the nurse asked and sat next to her friend. Matt looked like shit after a night of running around doing his blind ninja gig, and it was the perfect excuse to get into that clinic. They arrived at the clinic nearing the afternoon making sure that there were enough patients that the staff wouldn’t pay too much mind to a person roaming close to the office area (pretending to be lost if she ever gets caught). Jessica had jumped in on Matt’s last stretch of patrol the night before just to make sure he didn’t get hurt enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room, instead of a minute clinic.  The receptionist starts processing the paperwork the moment they received the clipboard from Jessica. The employee who relieved the morning shift looked like they’re still in their last phase of waking up; their tumbler of coffee still on hand, drinking like their life and children depended on it. 

 

“Mister Murdock?” a nurse walks out after only a few moments of waiting, “we're ready for you in the exam room.”

 

The both of them stood up and made their way through the curtain separating the lobby from the rest of the clinic.

 

“I'm sorry, Ma'am” the nurse stops Jessica from going further “only family members or spouses are allowed to go with the patients from here.”

 

“Oh my god,” Jessica says in that Fake White Girl Voice (as trademarked by Claire Temple), she can see Matt suppress a shiver by her side “I am so sorry, I didn't realize! I've been so - _ so- _ worried about my friend here since he fell down the stairs this morning I haven't been able to leave him. If it's OK with you can I at least walk him to the exam room and I'll wait outside? He broke his cane during the fall”.

 

The nurse had looked reluctant at first, but complies, “I’ll let you assist him until you reach the exam room, but you'll have to wait outside, is that's alright with you?”

 

“Oh thank you so much!” Jessica exclaims still in that Voice, Matt’s light flinch did not go unnoticed to her “That would be fine, I've just been so worried over Matt ever since I saw him slip down the stairs.”

 

She's not wrong, Jessica  _ did  _ find Matt on the bottom of some steps. Just not in his apartment, and with twenty other people scattered around either unconscious or wishing they were. So while Matt’s getting his bruises checked, Jessica decided to raid the office area, she makes a beeline for the office they passed by on the walk there and makes her way to the first desk on the right--

 

“Excuse me, Ma'am?” a voice says behind her “if you're looking for the bathroom it's actually just down the hallway you came from and to the right.”

 

Jessica jumps from where she stood, her hand still outstretched towards a pile of papers at the desk. She turns around and the first thing she sees were a set of Rugrats scrubs that looked so ridiculous if it weren't for the curves on the body it covers up. The nurse looked attractive, and honestly Jessica would have appreciated it more if it weren't for the fact that she has totally caught onto what she was doing. The look on her face shows that she has her suspicions to what Jessica was up to, and is more than willing to say something if she had gone any further in her snooping around the room.

 

“O-oh! How about that!” Jessica stammers out using the Voice she used on the other nurse and pretends to laugh at herself “I could have sworn the bathroom was on this side...but what do I know right?” 

 

The woman smiles, and oh Jesica can tell that she  _ did not  _ fall for the Voice, at all. The nurse walked in and gently escorted her out of the room and closed the door. She looked calmer after the obvious ‘click’ of the lock, content that she didn't have to worry about people sneaking into medical records so early in the morning. Jessica had to opt for just laughing at herself a little bit more, because she can't really punch her way out of this now can she? At least she shouldn't.

“No worries,” the nurse says “it's pretty easy to miss. I'll have someone show you where it is. Hey, Parker? Can you come over here for a second?”

 

Another nurse peeked out from one of the open rooms. The woman was a few inches shorter with the widest pair of glasses she seen since middle school. Her long brown hair tied in a bun crowning the top of her head looks a little loose, making her look a little ruffled but still approachable. That can't really be said about the other nurse who subtly looks about ready to toss her out of the premises.

 

The new nurse comes closer to the pair, giving Jessica a quick once over and a bright smile. Jessica felt as if she's been punched in the gut by Danny.

 

Jessica allowed herself to follow the ~~cute~~ nurse down to where the bathroom was and let herself in. Next thing she knew she was sitting on the toilet seat, not exactly doing anything but contemplating life, her (momentary) shitty acting, and how it led her to sitting on a toilet. This wasn't amateur hour and she didn't know what she was doing. She had checked the halls for cameras or any people nearby before she walked into that room. That nurse wouldn't have known she was headed there unless she had been keeping a really close eye on her, since she walked in with Matt. Who, speaking off...

 

For fucks sake Matt probably heard the whole thing didn't he?!

 

She walked out of the bathroom, making sure to flush and wash up just to make it believable for anyone paying attention and makes her way to the front lobby. The nurse in the Rugrats scrubs nowhere around, the door to the medical records office still closed, but the ~~cute~~ nurse was waiting for her near the entrance. 

 

“I'm sorry about my coworker there, Miss Jones,” she says following her out through the curtain partition, once out she leaned a little closer, and Jessica’s mouth goes dry “She knows who you are and what you do, that's why she's a bit of a bitch to you. Well more of a bitch than she already is, but I think you got a bit too close for comfort.”

 

Nurse Parker leans back and gives her another one of her ~~cute~~ smiles, “It's been nice Miss Jones but there are a few documentations I need to file, your friend will be out soon so it would be better to wait out here. I'll escort him out for you.”

 

With that, she turns and walks back through the curtain, leaving Jessica flummoxed and flustered. In a daze, Jessica takes as seat in a nearby bench to once again contemplate life, cu-  _ hot  _ nurses, and how it led her sitting in a lobby of a minute clinic feeling like she might be missing a piece in that conversation. 

 

Matt comes out a few minutes later and true to her word, hot Nurse Parker walked him out into the lobby. He’s been patched up and looking a little smug, all pretense of being a hapless cane less blind man gone. He casually made his way to where Jessica sat, halfheartedly pats around for a spot next to her and takes a seat. 

 

“For more than obvious reasons, I didn't witness what happened but I heard your heartbeat go haywire from all the way to my room.” Matt says, stupid grin plastered on his stupid face. “And I know it wasn’t because you got caught.”

 

“Shut up, Matt.”

 

“Did you manage to find anything?”

 

“...no.”

 

“Which one of them was the hot one?”

 

“...”

 

“No need to answer, I already know which one.”

 

“...Fuck you, Matt.”

 

Matt, stupid freak that he is, just laughs, “You might not have found anything in there; but if it’s any consolation: that nurse was into you, the hot one that is. If her heart beat was any indication.”

 

“Oh my god,” she exclaims. Change of tactics: Here comes Fake White Girl, because she will  _ not _ lose this Battle of the Assholes “Like, do you think I'll have a chance with the hot nurse? ‘cause I'd like to think I do. You should have seen that butt!”

 

“Jess,” Matt’s says after a few moments of silence, his voice was deadly quiet, “you are dead to me for the next twenty-four hours.”

 

“Same, brother. Same.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I wasn't completely sure what May's occupation was in Homecoming. So I decided to make her a nurse, mostly because I have some familiarity with medical settings than anything else.  
> Next update will be up soon! Please look forward to it!


	3. When Jessica Met May pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And all Jessica wanted to know was who the hell Sandra was fucking on the side.
> 
> Or
> 
> The second time Jessica met May, it was in a coffee shop in Queens.

The second time Jessica met May, it was in a coffee shop in Queens. 

Jessica walked into a figure scrambling out of her open office window and a flurry of post it notes scattered on the floor. Malcolm, who had tagged along with her while she bought some groceries immediately tossed all the groceries into the kitchen and gathered as much of the scattered bright pieces of paper as possible. Jessica immediately bolted for the open window the person jumped out of, by the time she poked her head out of the window the intruder had long since fled without a trace.

(Somewhere lying sprawled on the rooftop of Jessica’s apartment, Peter Parker is trying to catch his breath. It was a mad scramble trying to climb up the rooftop without the P.I. realizing who he was and where he was headed. He laid in a sprawl for a while longer sending a mental apology to his aunt. He had meant to leave his Aunt’s letter to the P.I. before he went out patrolling. But some guy went and stole his history teacher’s car off the school parking lot and Spider-Man had to make a very early appearance to get the car back. It was a bit too late before Peter realized he had left the letter  in his backpack; which he’s pretty sure is now in a truck on the way to the dump site. At least he had read the letter before heading out to school that day...So he had to make do with the post it notes in the P.I.’s desk when he snuck in.)

Whoever that asshole was should have just fucking slid a piece of paper under her door and been done with it. Why do people have to make it hard for everyone else? It had taken Jessica and Malcolm a half hour to figure out the order of the notes to understand out what the bullshit all of this was all about. Neither of them were amused. If Jessica ever finds them, she’s definitely gonna give them hell for this.

“...that’s it?” Malcolm looks at her, bemusement clear on his face “I thought this was going to be something potentially catastrophic, like the Midland Circle shit from last year!”   
  
“Thank Matt’s Catholic god that it's not more of that catastrophic Midland Circle bullshit” Jessica says, opening a fresh can of beer from the new groceries they brought in “Whoever the fuck that guy was needs a good smack upside the head for this unnecessary drama in my day.”  
  


As it turned out, the nurse practitioner wasn't  _ potentially  _ just a cheating wife but she was also  _ definitely _ cheating the good old American Medical System. From what the chicken scratch says on one particularly tricky note Sandra Henderson, wife to Craig Henderson, has screwed Uncle Sam over a few hundred thousand dollars in billing fraud. It  _ was  _ supposed to be a simple ‘Is my spouse cheating on me?’ job, but the wife just  _ had _ to make it difficult for everyone. Jesus Christ...

If the post-it notes was in any way true, her client’s wife has been subtle about it for years. Whoever this person trying to expose her is, they knew their shit and they really want it out in the open. Jessica just happened to be the lucky participant in this game of ‘Help Expose the Asshole’.

And all Jessica wanted to know was who the hell Sandra was fucking on the side.

“But it looks like they want to meet up,” Malcolm says giving Jessica to note with the address written on it.

“Good. Maybe I can fucking tape them to the wall with all the post-it notes they left me!”

 

\---

Her ‘informant’ requested they meet up in a coffee shop in Queens. It was discreet and quiet, no one would even consider eavesdropping on a couple of people having a conversation about someone's criminal tendencies. Jessica takes a sip from the coffee she had bought when she had arrived, it was a little watered down but nothing that her little addition of whiskey can’t fix.

The sound of the door opening and the subsequent chime caught her attention, and Jessica looks up to find that hot nurse with the cute glasses from the clinic. 

Her hair is down, draped over her shoulders styled as if she had just pull it off a braid. She is also out of the scrubs and into a more simple maroon and black striped long sleeve and slacks. The way she carries herself across the front of the store immediately tells Jessica that she is familiar with the shop, or she might already be a regular. She greets the barista with a warm smile, and Jessica could see every other male employee stop just to turn and look at her. 

“Hey, Edgar” he nurse says to the barista at the front, “I'll just have the regular coffee today.”

“Okee doke, May!” Edgar the barista says, “is Peter on the way? I'll go make his usual.” 

“No, it's just me today.”

The nurse, May is her name apparently, pays for her drink and glances around the shop and heads for the back of the shop and straight for her table... 

Oh. shit.

“I hope you didn't have to wait for so long,” She says as professionally as she could “Miss Jones, my name is May Parker and I hope whatever I can give you would help you out in your investigation”

Jessica stares, again feeling a off kilter in more ways than one.

“So you were the one that sent me the notes.” She manages trying to gauge where Miss Parker is taking this conversation. 

“Yes,” She replies taking a seat across from her, “If it's alright with you I want to remain anonymous, and unfortunately I might have to be vague in some cases but there's a lot of patient privacy laws I'm potentially breaking by sharing what I know with you”

“Honestly, I would take whatever information you can give me.” Jessica says, hoping she isn’t about to open a can of worms.

Miss Parker nods and starts talking. Jessica stays silent the whole time the other woman spoke. Half the things she mentioned went over her head, and it was overwhelming. In the jist of it all, the nurse practitioner had been billing services not provided in some treatments. Several years worth of billable medical jargon without the actual substances in the treatments or visitations, and a number of other types of fraud that would make someone like Matt sleep better at night knowing he helped bust a crime without busting faces. Jessica’s experiences with medical billing and paperwork are near zero, and she’s pretty sure there are auditors out there representing insurance companies all over that would go apeshit over fraud like these. However…

This was definitely the can of worms she did  _ not _ want opened.

“Miss Parker,” Jessica stops her while she went through years of documentation (how she remembers all of these notes without having any of the paperwork with her is astounding) “Your case has incredible merit. Like, you will fucking win if you go through the right people and it ends up in court. But, this isn’t the info I was hoping you would give me.”

Miss Parker frowns, “Then what were you doing in Medical Records that morning?”.

Jessica takes a swig of her coffee, she  _ definitely _ needs more whiskey in this thing.

“Would...you believe me if I tell you I was hired to see if she’s cheating on her husband?”

Parker’s face slackened in surprise and stayed quiet for a whole minute, “What...the fuck.”

Jessica sighs, “Miss Parker, I think-”

“No. No, it thought-! How-!”

Jessica’s gaze faltered at this point and she looks at her mug of coffee, “...it's pretty obvious that we're both here for completely different reasons.”

Miss Parker places her head against her hands and groans, “ _ Jesus Fucking Christ!”  _

Customers and employees alike turned their heads towards their direction, Jessica turns and stares them down with as much ire as she could. May continued her tirade, “I've been trying to make people see what's going on since the beginning! I thought someone's finally caught on and I had  _ believed _ that's why you were there!”

“Sorry, the husband hired me to see who she's fucking on the side” Jessica replies wincing at how callous it sounded as she pulled out her flask of whiskey and pours a splash into her coffee. This was a bitch of an awkward situation...

_ “She’s fucking with Medicare, that’s who she’s fucking on the side _ ! God! I fucking thought!” 

Jessica looks at her half full flask and holds it up to May, “Want some?”

May solemnly nods, head still in one hand and pushes her mug with the other towards Jessica in invitation.

“It's not you she’s sleeping with, are you?”

“God,  _ no!” _

Jessica’s going to ignore that flooding sense of relief that spreads across her body.

“Why didn't you just report this to the CMS or the Department of Health and Human Services?” Jessica asks pouring a reasonable amount (by her standards) into May's cup.

“Because I already fucking did and she still managed to get away with it.” May snaps her head up, she comes forward and takes a big gulp of her doctored mug of coffee “She pulled some hand wavy legal semantics bullshit in her paperwork that looked legitimate and no one else stepped up to back up my report proving against it, so they let the investigation go.”

“I still don’t understand,” Jessica presses on, because asking questions is the only thing she could do right now against a woman whose hopes she might have just shattered, “why would you think I’d be of any help here?”

May gives her an incredulous look, “You’re a private investigator  _ and  _ people know that you’re a superhero! That's why she stopped you from walking into the office because she  _ thought  _ you were trying to catch them for fraud.  _ I  _ thought you were trying to catch them for fraud. Look, I sincerely believe that if you backed me up on this, the CMS would give it another look!”

“Look, Miss Parker-”   
  
“Call me May.”

“- _ May _ , to tell you the truth my ‘influence’ in your case here will have as big an impact as Thor has influence over reproductive rights. You need someone who can keep this case afloat in a court setting, even before they even consider putting it in court.”

“So you’re saying you can’t help me?” May asks, her voice quiet in near defeat.

“What I’m saying here is: I know a guy.”

Now Jessica isn’t the most poetic woman, but if she could keep that moment May Parker’s face transitioned from defeated acceptance to hopeful exuberance...then she wished she had a recording of it that she could watch on repeat on a bad day.

This is bad.

 

\---

Jessica has no idea what possessed her to buy another cup of coffee for the both of them, but she does. Both of them enjoyed another cup of Jessica’s coffee-whiskey concoction once they knew they knew they could get away with it. May looked more relaxed, now that her worries are out in the open with a very optimistic solution. She has that beautiful smile on her face again that Jessica couldn’t help but find endearing. She also had the beginnings of a blush from the mix that makes Jessica want to keep buying her more coffee just so she could stay around longer. At some point, after a particularly stupid comment about co-workers and expired potluck dishes, May lets out a string of giggles that escalated into unflattering snorts of laughter. Oddly enough, it was at this point in their rendezvous that Jessica comes to the momentous realization that the woman in front of her is fucking beautiful.

“You know” May says after another cup and a splash of whiskey, “I was so nervous about telling you about all of this. I wasn’t expecting everything to turn out like it did.”

“Girl,” Jessica counters, leaning on the table “I wasn’t expecting finding out about billing fraud when I picked up this job. I still have no idea who Sandra Henderson is sleeping with.”

“Oh, it’s that bitch with the Rugrats scrubs” May says with a nonchalant shrug, “Her name’s Gracie Summers. I’m surprised no one’s told Mr. Henderson about those two, you literally could have just walked up to any staff member in there and asked and they would have told you”

Jessica blinks “...Just so you know, aside from this whole fraud business: this is the first time I’ve ever actually gotten a straight answer from  _ anyone _ . This almost never happens, and I should thank you for that.” 

“I have people who I honest to god love that do not give me a straight answer, I can relate.”

“Ain't it the worst?”

“It's aggravating is what it is!”

“Speaking of aggravating,”Jessica’s stopped caring about proper conversation etiquette; she’s too damn drunk at this point, and still a little salty about the post-it note incident “I need to know: How did you get into my office and why did you write your message out in post-it notes?”

May looked dumbfounded, “W-wait-what?!” She stammers out, “I sent it in a--oh goddammit”.

She ended that sentence in a quiet curse. “I'm sorry, I-i didn't know that my friend gave you my message that way,I had it written out on paper to just leave on your front door but-”

“But who's this friend?” Jessica hadn't meant it to be overbearing, but barring those times with Malcolm and a certain motherfucker, no one is allowed in her apartment. Unless they’re clients, and unless they’re invited. She still has issues with strangers in her personal area. 

“I won't tell you anything.” She gives back in a tone matching Jessica’s in tenacity. “they are completely unrelated to this and I'd rather keep it that way, if that is fine with you.”

Jessica would like to differ, but instead gives May a long look, “Do me a favor, next time call me by my office phone. I’m not fond of home invaders.”

“Of course!” May replies, all trace of annoyance gone replaced by a certain gleam in her eyes “Especially since you still owe me for telling you about Gracie and Sandra”.

“Wait what?”

“I'm saying: I'll take a rain check on that next coffee you were about to buy me.”

And with that and a playful little wink, May gathers her belongings and begins to stand, she reaches for Jessica’s shoulder and leans in, “Thank you so much for all your help,” and in a more hushed tone “I’ll call you up when I’m available for that coffee date, bring more of that whiskey!”

And she turns and heads to the front entrance to the cafe, but not before giving Jessica one last wave and that beautiful smile of hers that’s now starting to make Jessica’s heart rate impossibly spike and stop simultaneously. On the way out, the door opens from the outside allowing May to pass through first before they came in. The chime on the door rings as it closes once again and Jessica turns to find Danny ordering something off the menu.

“Hey Fist-Boy!” She yells from across the room.

Danny jumps, his face a dangerous shade of red as he turns to find Jessica in her booth. He quickly makes his way to her, in the hopes he won’t have to hear another embarrassing name. 

“How's life treating my second favorite Karate Kid?” Jessica says as Danny takes a seat across from her.

“Quite well, Jess” Danny says giving her an disgruntled look, his face still a shade of red “quite well, as long as you stop calling me inappropriate nicknames”

“You're no fun, Rand.”

“I ask that you do not insult the name of the Immortal Iron Fist, Jessica. For fucks sake”

“Seriously. Danny? You're twenty-six; you need need to get that Fist out of your ass. Like, when was the last time you went out and enjoyed yourself, like ‘ _ enjoyed _ ’ yourself“

Danny’s face is a whole shade redder while he processes what is going on with the woman in front of him, “Oh my god Jess, remind me not to be around you when you’re drunk and in a happy mood. It’s disconcerting. But if you must know, I was out on a trip to Idaho”.

“Oh my fucking god why? There’s nothing there.”

“Because I am twenty-six and I can choose to do whatever I want with my life, Jess. What about you? I don't hear about  _ your _ fun adventures.”

Jessica gives him a smug grin, “If you must know, Danny-boy, I have a coffee date with a hot nurse in the foreseeable future.”

“Coffee date,” Danny looks at her dubiously, “as in standard definition of ‘coffee date’? Or Luke and Claire’s definition of ‘coffee date’?”

Jessica’s mind slams into a complete halt, her face slowly flushing red that rivaled Danny’s as she processed the implications of what Danny had just said.

Danny, because he is a right bastard, just laughs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you for everyone who has read this fic! Everyone's comments is always appreciated (even though I'm always late at replying! I'm sorry...) and it's always a treat to read them.
> 
> Next chapter might be out a lot later...I haven't written it out yet...
> 
> See you guys next time!


	4. Intermission: Danny wants a bigger group chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny wants to meet new friends. Luke is a gossip whore. Jess gets more post-it notes.
> 
> Matt and Claire are not happy.

The third time Jessica met May, it was during a fist fight in an alleyway in Queens.

However! We're getting a bit to ahead of ourselves. Let's backtrack to a few months before that fateful alleyway meeting to that one night Luke, Danny, Matt, and Jessica decided to expand their horizons.

So…

It all began on a rare quiet night, nothing to eventful happening that the cops can't handle. On nights like these, one of them (usually Danny or Jessica) would try to talk everyone else to ditch patrol for the night and just go out to drink or eat. But on this night, Luke was the first one to start up the chat. 

**Luke C** : It's quiet over here, anyone else wanna to call it early and meet up at our usual place?

**DannyR** : I will be there as soon as I can.

**JessicaJ** : fine w me 

**JessicaJ** : as long as Danny pays!

**DannyR** : No, Jess. We pay together.

**LukeC** .: Jess stop messing with the rich white boy.

**LukeC** : Claire wants to come along btw

**JessicaJ** : Good so it's less of a sausage fest in that place.

**LukeC** : You could bring your coffee date with you

**JessicaJ** : No :)

**JessicaJ** : Danny Rand you gossip whore

**JessicaJ** : I confided in you

**MattM** : bee there soon*

**JessicaJ:** this is what I get for trusting a rich white boy :, (

**MattM** : might be a little late

**DannyR:** That’s it

**MattM:** can someone order the shrimp and walnut for me

**DannyR:** Jessica’s paying for everything!

Matt shows up fifteen minutes late, his cane gliding across the floor. Luke waves him down from their table, stops, and brings his arm back down looking sheepish. Claire laughs and Danny pats him on the shoulder in consolation.

“I've done that a few times myself,” Danny says, “after watching him fight the way he does? I honestly forget.”

Matt takes a seat next to Jessica, the smirk on his face made it obvious that he heard the whole exchange. “Don't worry you guys, I'll forgive you if you both pay for dinner.”

Jessica laughs in her pint of beer and raises her hand for a high-five. To which Matt meets with perfect accuracy.

Their food gets brought in not long after that. All of them made sure Matt knew where everything was before they all started on their own dishes. It was quiet for a few minutes with all of them enjoying the meal. That is, until Danny says through a mouthful of pork dumplings. 

“We should try and find other people, you guys.” 

Everyone in their little table still full of food blinked. 

“...Danny” Matt says slowly setting aside the empty plate of shrimp walnuts “I'm not sure how to break this to you: I love everyone in this table like I love my cousins that I only see on Thanksgiving dinners, but I don't think our relationship is-”

“N-not like that!” Danny sputters his face burning red, “I mean we should invite some more people like us into our group of...well... whatever this is.”

“Glorified Neighborhood Watch?”

“Ninety-Nine Cent Avengers?”

“Poster Children for Poor Career Choice?”

“Speak for yourself, Jones.”

“How's business handling you, Pro Bono of Hell’s Kitchen?”

“Better than how you handle that door to your office.”

“Jess got it right when she said ‘Children’,” Claire sighs, scooping the rest of the beef and broccoli into her plate. 

“ _ I mean,”  _ Danny grinds on “We should expand our network of acquaintances. We may not be the Avengers-”

“Thank god we're not.”

“Matt, shut up! Like I was saying, we may not be as prolific as the Avengers; but we  _ are  _ doing some good here in New York. But I believe that we should seek out other individuals with abilities and goals similar to ours; set up a network of vigilantes-slash-heroes”.

“That's not a bad idea,” Claire says, “It won't hurt to have a network of people that can hop in a fight if things get out of hand. So do you have anyone in mind?”

“There's Frank Castle.” Danny begins to say only to be cut off by a solid “No” from Matt.

“Why not?” Danny counters, “it’ll give us an advantage if we have a guy on our side that has some knowledge to the criminal network.”

“Just. No.”

“How about we just leave that on the table for now and move on,” Claire interrupts, “there's a few more vigilantes out there right?”

“What about that guy in the red suit?” Luke asks the group. 

“That is soooo vague, you're describing  _ at least _ three individuals here!” Jessica points out jabbing Luke with her chopsticks accidentally breaking them against his shoulder, pieces of the chopsticks falling in various places around their table.

“Did you mean the crazy guy in the red suit?” Danny says eyeing the splintered utensil, slowly reaching towards Jessica’s fourth pint of beer in an attempt to stop her from drinking anymore for the night.

Jessica smacks his hand away from her drink, “We already have a crazy guy in a red suit!”

“I resent that, Jones” 

“Well, I resent your wardrobe malfunction, Matt.”

“You know wha-”

“ _ Deadpool” _ Claire cuts everyone off with a slam of her hand against the table, _ “ _ is to volatile to have as a contact this early, I don't recommend approaching him first”.

“Jess,” Luke whispers to the woman in question, “that’s your fourth beer, I think you should quit for the night.”

“Fine!” she gripes and chugs the last half of her drink, “That's my last one for tonight! Here's my contribution: what about Spider-Man?” 

“The guy swinging around Queens?” Claire says, “he _ would _ be a good one to approach first, but isn't he a member of the Avengers?”

“I'm pretty sure he isn't” Luke answers after taking a sip from his tea “if he was, you wouldn't be seeing him running around Queens at all. If Stark had made him sign the Sokovia Accords he’ll be stuck under the same red tape as the rest of the Avengers who did.”

“But it's pretty obvious he's affiliated with Iron Man, at least.” Matt adds, “No one in New York has access to that type of technology embedded in his suit, unless it's stolen. His suit isn't anything like the weapons that popped up around New York when Adrian Toomes was around, Spider-Man’s suit has Stark Tech written all over it”.

“But would it be safe to approach him?” Danny asks, “What if we suddenly get the government sanctioned Avengers on our front door the moment we go near him?”

“Other than the incident with the ferry and the plane crash by Coney Island a while back, no one from the Avengers’ made contact with Spider-Man since.” Jessica says, “I think he either pissed off the Avengers by breaking their shit and they're no longer on speaking terms  _ or _ he's distanced himself from Stark and just went local”

“What if he doesn't want to be associated with us?” Luke says, “What if there  _ is  _ a fallout between him and Stark, do you think he'll trust anyone of us that's trying to get him to join us?”

“We aren't exactly trying to make up our own group of Avengers here,” Danny says, “we're just trying to set up a network local heroes so we don’t have to work alone if we could help it.”

“Exactly,” Claire  adds in, “Also, this might help minimize collateral damage. Just think about how everyone in this table already has a track record for destroying public property, it would be good for everyone have someone that can keep you accountable so we could at least minimize the mess.”

“Claire” Jessica turns to her, “I don’t know why you have the utmost faith in us… but do you really think we’ll hold each other accountable?”   
  
Claire levels her with a Look that promises soooooooo many bad things the next time one of them shows up after flipping over ten cars and sporting a paper cut, “Well, you four better not disappoint me then!”

\---

And so begins their attempts to add more people into their contact list. Colleen was the first to go along with the networking idea (“Danny’s gonna get himself into a lot of shit when I’m not around. It would be good for someone to keep an eye on him when I’m not there!”). Matt somehow convinced Karen to add herself into their group as an informant. Danny managed to strike up some weird friendship with Stephen Strange and now they have a an honest to god interdimensional wizard in their group chat.

But no one’s had the balls to talk to Spider-Man.

“So we have connections to our very own magical Rick Sanchez but we can't get in contact with a guy who sticks to walls” Luke mutters as he tossed a large concrete wall into a pile for the clean up crew to take away later.

“You are  _ insulting _ Rick Sanchez by comparing him to that magical dimension hopping hippie-monk hybrid.  But that aside: We are disappointing your girlfriend here, Luke,” Jessica adds, picking up another heavy debris and tossing it next to Luke’s pile “I don’t like it when she’s disappointed!”

There was a skirmish in Harlem involving Iron Man, Stephen Strange, and a hoard of literal flying monkeys with alien tech. Jessica would have been laughing over the absurdity of the whole thing if it weren’t for the fact that she was too busy cursing Stark’s name as she drop kicked monkeys across East Harlem (she’s 89% sure he’s responsible for the Broadway rejects owning alien weaponry). Luke and Jessica had gotten involved by helping everyone get to safety. Occasionally tossing monkeys back to Strange’s and Iron Man’s line of fire. Strange had managed to minimize the damage by building a barrier that reverses whatever damage it accrues. It didn't exactly help  _ anyone  _ outside the barrier. At the end of it all, Harlem was a mess of dead monkeys and fallen buildings. Worst of all, Stark’s ‘clean up crew’ only retrieved the dead monkeys and its alien tech, and nothing else.

Luke was livid to say the least, especially since the area that took the most damage were residential homes. So here they are, Harlem’s personal hero and New York’s second best high functioning alcoholic  working with the clean up crew picking up after New York’s number one high functioning alcoholic.

“How about this: Why don’t  _ you _ go over to Queens and track down Spider-Man?” Luke points out pointing a block of concrete at her before tossing it onto a smaller pile.

“I've been busy with a new investigation, plus Matt dragged me into the Henderson gig” Jessica replies, “the fraud case, not the infidelity case”.

Luke mood shifts to a more mischievous mood at the mention of the Henderson case, “Speaking of...you  _ could _ go visit your coffee date in Queens; you know, to see if she knows Spider-Man. It’s a good incentive for you to go there” 

Jessica groans, face turning a shade of red and quickly turns away from Luke, “Why did Danny have to tell you about her?” she gripes as she picks up another large piece of a fallen ceiling and tosses it across the yard with more strength than intended, “you guys are worse gossips than middle aged moms in a bible study group!”

“Actually, I heard it from Claire who heard it from Colleen, who heard it from Danny...who also told Matt.” Luke says a little sheepish.

“Let me change my past statement:  _ You're all worse than teenagers in a bible study group! _ ”

“Excuse me?”

Both Luke and Jessica turned to look at the source of the voice, looks up and gapes. 

Spider-Man is perched on top of a crane waving at the two of them, “My friend told me that Harlem might need some help with cleanup. So I thought: Hey! They probably need help with some heavy lifting, I should go and swing by!”

The other two stayed silent, leaving an uncomfortable silence between the three of them. 

“...so is that a no?” Spider-Man says tilting his head to the side, “I-I know you guys are, like, super strong and I get that you guys might have this all handled even without needing my help...I just thought ‘Maybe I should introduce myself to the other friendly neighborhood heroes and maybe I should-”

Luke was the first to recover from this feat of serendipity, putting Spider-Man down from his nervous babbling misery, “No- wait! I mean- yes! We would definitely appreciate it if you help us out here, we can’t get anything repaired unless all the mess is cleaned up”.

“Okay cool!” Spider-Man perks up hopping off of the crane to land in front of the two of them, “Where do you want me to start?”

He's bouncing at the balls of his feet, eager to jump on whatever Luke asks him to do. It was instantly endearing, and Jessica could tell Luke’s already taken a liking to the guy, judging by the welcoming smile on his face and his open demeanor as he started explaining what else needs to be done. However, all Jessica could think of was,  _ Puppy. _

She could easily place him around early twenties. Probably a college student, obviously a local if he can go up and swing around buildings and hitch rides on the public transportation without notice. She’s caught him snacking on a chili dog while sitting on public transportation on more than one occasion; yeah, definitely a local. 

With Spider-Man hauling out Luke and Jessica’s piles after piles of debris into a haul truck. With his help, their job had taken less time than they expected. Construction and the clean-up crew thanked the three of them for helping out and began setting up their area to make their repairs. 

As the last of the haul trucks made its way out of Harlem, Jessica spots Spider-Man walk up to a what was once a corner store. The young man stands stock still while his eyes -despite the mask covering his face- is obviously on the ruins, right where the ceiling collapsed in on itself. Jessica notices his breathing suddenly picking up, and his hands shaking.

Jessica can tell a bad flashback when she sees one.

“Hey, Spidey!” She calls out, Spider-Man’s flinch didn’t go unnoticed, “thanks a ton for your help today. I thought Luke and I were going to be here till the afternoon”.

“I’m always happy to help out, Ma’am!” Spider-Man says as he takes a theatrical bow at Jessica’s direction, all traces of his somber demeanor gone in a sweep of his arms. 

Jessica snickers at the theatrics, the guy really  _ is _ endearing. And also younger than she previously assumed, the kid’s probably late teens if his first reaction is to call Jessica ‘Ma’am’ is anything to go by. “Way to make a girl feel old there you little brat. I’m still young enough to be your big sis!”

Spider-Man stiffens, “Wai-! No I-! Ah- I’m not a kid!” he says, way to flounder that sentence kid, “I’m twenty!”

“That still makes you younger than me, and therefore a kid, you brat”

“Now wait just a se-!”

“Jess, can you stop messing with the kid?” Luke calls out to the two of them from the other side of the street. “Also, have you asked him yet?”

“I’m not a kid!”

“Can’t help it Luke!” She yells back having a bit too much fun at the kid’s expense, “‘cause he is, you know? A Brat!”

“I’m not!”

Jessica laugh  and gives Spider-Man a light shove on the shoulder. “Calm your shit, kid” She tells him as Spider-Man tried to shove her back “You’re starting to sound thirteen here!”

In the end, it took both Luke and Jessica to explain to Spider-Man about Danny’s networking idea. Spider-Man had been wary at the beginning as Jessica tried to explain that ‘No, we’re not making our own group of Avengers, Daredevil might actually punch himself!’. Luke eventually stepped in to save the conversation. In the end, Spider-Man pulls out his cell phone from one of his pouches and asks for their numbers.

“What about you, Ma’am? I mean Miss- I mean...” Spider-Man winces and corrects himself, “...Jessica..?”

“Jones” Jessica tries hard not to laugh while she tells him her phone number. “I'm a P.I. in Hell’s Kitchen, if you need to look me up”.

The way Spider-Man’s head snapped up in attention looked like it hurt pretty bad, “You’re the P.I. from Alias Investigations!” he exclaims panic clear on the tone of his voice.

“...yeah?” Jessica replies, wondering where this conversation is going to lead. 

“Oh-er, it's nothing! Really!” He says “it's just, my friend talked to me about you once but I didn't realize  _ you  _ were the one she was talking about!”

Before either Luke or Jessica could even say anything else to the young man, he looks back at his phone as it played some tune from a video gme and says “Aaand that's her right now!” he laughs sounding relieved that he didn't have to continue on with the conversation, “Sorry guys, my friend needs me back in my neck of the woods, I'll text you guys if I needanythingandviceversaokaytillnextimebye!”

Jessica and Luke stood quiet as they watched Spider-Man quickly make his way up the rooftops and out of sight. “What the fuck was that about?” Luke asked.

“Don't know,” Jessica shrugs saving Spider-Man’s number on her phone. Labeling his name as “Itsy Bitsy”. “At least we have him in our group chat now”.

Luke snickers at the sight of Jessica’s contact name.

\---

When Jessica comes home that night, she finds a new stack of post-it notes with an apology note next to it. Signed by none other than...a Spider.

“Oh Motherfuck!”

\---

For couple of weeks then on, Spider-Man has become a bit of a staple presence between Danny, Luke, and Jessica. Spider-Man had taken an immediate liking to Danny after the both of them got into a skirmish with some bank robbers one afternoon. Not long after that Jessica would catch them running around Midtown, Queens, or Brooklyn together. Harlem has a lot of kids who idolizes Spider-Man and Luke would call him whenever he needs help in a situation that involve children. 

Spider-Man would ask Jessica for help if it involves having to gather up information that even Stark’s AI can’t access. This leads to Spider-Man’s first time seeing Jessica in her element when she makes contact with a newspaper company they’re trying to sneak into.

“Hi!” Jessica says in her Voice that Claire fondly calls ‘Fake’ “My name’s Melissa Cane and I would like to have a tour at your building”

Spider-Man makes a choked scared noise and Jessica shuts him up with a smack on the shoulder.

“You see, I’m a freelance photographer and I was wondering if your company takes commissions from freelance work or if we work under contract…”

The conversation goes on with Jessica managing to set up an appointment for a tour the day after tomorrow. Spider-Man was impressed, if not a little unnerved by Jessica’s change in demeanor.

“You see, kid” Jessica tells him after ending the phone call, “you could have done this yourself, if you were just a  _ little  _ bit over puberty”

Spider-Man huffs, “I told you: I’m  _ not _ that young!”

“Keep telling yourself that, kid” She laughs “Maybe if you do, that squeak in your voice might go away”

Times like those just adds more credibility to Jessica’s theory that Spider-Man is younger than he lets on, because nearly all the places that he’s asked her to infiltrate for him are places kids wouldn’t be caught dead in.

And times like those that Jessica tries to avoid the fact that May Parker is apparently friends with Spider-Man. 

\---

And then there’s that one time with Matt...

The first time Spider-Man meets Daredevil, it was in a drug bust gone to shit.

Now in retrospect, it could have been anyone's fault. One could say it was poor location choice from the dealers themselves by picking a stereotypical abandoned building. It could have been the fact that the couriers coming from Queens were  _ not  _ conspicuous about what they were doing that Spider-Man immediately traced them to said rendezvous point in Midtown. Or it could have been Daredevil (who tracked another set of couriers from Hell’s Kitchen) trying to drag Spider-Man away from the fight after catching him sneaking into said stereotypical abandoned building to bust some drugs. Surely it couldn’t just be Spider-Man’s phone suddenly ringing, alerting every man and their dead grandma to their location.

Daredevil was not hearing it.

“Why the hell do you bring your own personal phone into situations like this?” Daredevil scolds the poor guy. “Have you not heard of burner phones or the vibrate setting?”

Despite the fact that Spider-Man had kept his mask on, his body does a great job in displaying his embarrassment. His head downcast, body slouched forward enough without aggravating his injured left side, his hands wringing a blood stained towel he’d been using to put pressure on Daredevil’s wounds. Now he’s probably just holding onto it for security while Daredevil rants on about bringing personal items while out as their alter egos.  Jessica stifles her laughter from her spot on the couch.

“He looks like a kicked puppy!” she whispers to Luke who sat on the loveseat next to her. “How can a guy dressed like like that look so much like a puppy?”

“Spider-Man  _ does _ give off that sad dejected vibe,” Danny says from the opposite side of Jessica’s couch, “It doesn’t help that he’s half Daredevil’s size...almost like a prepubescent Daredevil”

“Spider-Pup” Luke says in an equally quiet tone, “it's like watching a red rottweiler yelling at their red puppy”.

“Holy shit you're right!”

“Can you three shut the hell up over there?” Claire calls from the kitchen bringing in her medical supplies. She settles it on the kitchen table where Daredevil and Spider-Man sat next to each other. “Better yet one of you come over here and help me with our idiot here!”

They all scrambled to get something done, lest they incur Claire’s wrath. It was supposed to be a pretty chill night. Danny had decided to take the night off from his patrolling around New York, Jessica had just finished up another P.I. job and received a pretty decent pay. Luke and Claire decided to invite the both of them to dinner. They were halfway done with the second pizza Luke had pulled out of the oven when Spider-Man frantically tapped on the window with Daredevil draped over his back held securely with webs.

Claire had tried to stitch up Spider-Man at first, but the kid refuses saying he wasn’t as hurt as Daredevil. Claire reacts to this statement by giving him a bottle of Powerade and orders to ‘Eat something, dammit! Someone get him a pizza!’ She moves on to Matt, who had to have a few stitches done across his back and pulled out a bullet from his thigh. All the while Spider-Man sat by flinching and apologizing every time Matt made any noise of discomfort, because god forbid the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen would scream over near fatal wounds in front of a rookie hero he had been busy yelling at just moments ago.

“No need to be so worried over Daredevil, Spider-Man” Luke pats his shoulder and pulls up a chair to sit next to their guest, “guy can take a beating better than anyone I know.”   
  
“ _ Anyone _ here can take a pretty good beating if we wanted to,” Danny chimes in from where he stood holding a lamp for Claire while she worked. 

“Honestly we prefer  _ not _ to take a good beating if we can help it” Jessica says bring Spider-Man a few slices of Luke’s pizza and a cup of something to drink.

“I’m with everybody in the whole ‘not getting beaten up’ business,” Spider-Man says pulling his mask up halfway and taking a large bite of the pizza...and subsequently inhales the rest. “Oh god this is so gooood! Can I have more?”

Claire had finished cleaning and covering up Matt’s injuries. She sterilized and packed her supplies and sat on an empty seat while watching along with Danny, Jessica, and Luke as Spider-Man inhaled three more slices. Daredevil had sat up and slipped back into his outfit.

“You should slow down before you choke” Daredevil says, to which Spider-Man responds by actually choking right when he finished the sentence, “good grief, kid.”

“Sorry Mister Daredevil, Sir” Spider-Man gasps after taking a drink from the cup of juice Jessica had given him.

“Jesus Christ, you’re starting to sound more like a kid by the second” Claire says, “How old are you?”   
  
“I’m...twenty Miss Claire” Spider-Man replies like a teenager caught by an adult.

“No you’re not” Matt calls him out, “I can hear that you’re lying”   
  
Spider-Man’s face turns pale from where everyone can see his skin from where the mask was lifted up, he takes another drink from his cup. “Um...okay, I can’t lie.  Oh-kay...please please please don’t tell anyone else you guys but...I’m...sixteen.”

“ _ Oooooooh! Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? _

_ Spongebob Squarepants!” _

“Jesus Fucking Christ, he's sixteen” Claire says placing her head against the kitchen table.

Jessica goes back to the fridge to grab five cans of beer and a can of root beer and passes them out to everyone in the room.

“Sorry, kid” Jessica says passing the root beer to Spider-Man, “No beer for the minor”.

Spider-Man huffs and awkwardly drinks his can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *okay, we are talking about a reality where there are flying suits and homicidal A.I. They should have advanced assistive devices for the sight impaired. So imagine Matt having an advanced phone that can read his text messages off an earpiece and send back messages through voice commands.
> 
> Thank you everyone who reads/leaves Kudos/comments on this fic. I can't believe that so many people enjoy this thing I write when I'm half asleep at night and proofread on weekends.  
> Next update might take longer, I'm still writing it up...
> 
> Don't know if you guys are interested, but I have a Tumblr if anyone wants to chat or enjoy reblogs.  
> http://redsilkthread.tumblr.com/


	5. When Jessica Met May pt. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And just like that, everything fell into place. All thanks to Spongebob Squarepants...

**DannyR:** I'm in Queens this afternoon Spidey want to meet up to patrol?

**DannyR:** wait nevermind…

**DannyR:** classes are going on right now 

**Itsy Bitsy:** I'm in Spanish class rn

**Itsy Bitsy:** please stop

**Itsy Bitsy** : just finished spanish

**Itsy Bitsy:** after class around 5?

**DannyR:** Definitely! 

_ Jessica Jones added to the chat… _

**DannyR:** Jess want to come along?

**DannyR** : Spidey and I are meeting up later 

**DannyR:** we might bump into your coffee date if you're lucky! ;)

**Itsy Bitsy** : please stop I'm in class again!

**JessicaJ:** Danny Rand I swear to god

**JessicaJ:** if you and Luke bring her up one more time 

**JessicaJ:** I'm telling Spidey to hang you upside down ass naked over Wall Street 

**Itsy Bitsy** :  everyone stop texting I'm in class!!!!

**JessicaJ:** Why are you looking at your work phone in class anyways???

 

**Itsy Bitsy** :  this is my personal phone!

**JessicaJ:** Why haven't you gotten a burner phone yet???

**Itsy Bitsy** :  I am a highschool student

**Itsy Bitsy** : my part time job is vigilantism

**Itsy Bitsy** : I am paid with churros and enchiladas 

**Itsy Bitsy** : I don't think any of the elderly ladies I help would give me a phone

From other parts of town, Jessica looks at Spider-Man’s recent messages a bit guiltily...He’s got a point…

\---

“Here you go!” Danny says tossing a bag at Spider-Man when he appeared that afternoon.

“What is it?” Spider-Man asks after catching the bag, “No way!?” he gasps pulling out the package holding a disposable phone “You didn't need to do this, Danny! I could have gotten one eventually…”

“‘Eventually’ is too long, we would be hearing ‘Spongebob Squarepants’ ringing whenever we're on patrol at night” Jessica says passing everyone a burrito from the food cart she passed by. 

“I said I was sorry!” Spider-Man squawks at her. “You guys aren't gonna let me live that down, huh?”

“Give me three more days to exploit it” Jessica teases, “and I'll probably just mention it every other month”.

“I'm still laughing at the image of Daredevil beating some drug dealers to Spongebob's music” Danny chuckles before he takes a bite out of his burrito.

“I don't know if I can even give you anything back for this phone…” Spider-Man says quietly.

“Iron Man isn't the only guy that can give you free stuff, Spidey,” Danny waves his hand in dismissal, “We have your back too, so don't worry about paying me back”.

“Besides” Jessica adds through a mouthful of burrito “Danny owns like 51% of his company's share so he has  _ a lot  _ of money to burn. Take advantage, kid”.

“Jess, no”

“Danny, yes”

The trio started their patrolling not long after, keeping to the roof tops for the most part. Jessica tries to stay focused but her attention wanders towards every long haired brunette that she sees down the street. If she hasn't stopped making fun of Spider-Man’s mishap with his phone, she's sure that Danny would give her even worse hell for this. May Parker hadn't contacted her since their first meeting in the coffee shop, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed that she hasn't heard from her at all. Call her lovestoned but, Jessica is more than willing to break a leg at this point so she could have a decent reason to visit her workplace in Brooklyn again.

Maybe if she drags Danny with her next time...

Jessica makes her way back to the others after making sure no one would be getting mugged anytime soon. She finds them hanging out on a water tower with Spider-Man talking animatedly about something or other, waving his hands around for emphasis. She watches as Spider-man sticks his own arm onto the drum of the water tower and pantomimes being stuck in his own web. Danny on the other hand was too busy clutching at his sides from laughing too hard.

“Holy shit, Jess!” Danny between breaths as he tried to contain himself “You need to hear this story Spidey’s just told me!”

Spider-Man jumps at the excitement of wanting to tell the story again “So this one time I tried to stop this guy from stealing this car…”

At the end of the evening, they had stopped a mugging around Elmhurst where the only thing Jessica and Danny had to do was stand menacingly 20 feet away from the culprit and let Spider-Man web the guy to the nearest light post. It was boring to say the least, but watching Danny and Spider-Man climb a tree to grab a cat off its branches was something worth taking pictures of (and definitely worth sending to Claire and Colleen). Danny, as naive he could be at times, is a truly good guy and having Spider-Man around brings out Danny’s older brother streak.

Although there really  _ is _ something about Spider-Man that brings out something protective or almost affectionate in any of them. And Jessica is lying if she says she doesn’t see it in herself. Especially after the multiple lunches and dinners she’s been treating him to whenever they patrol as a group.

“So I want to know, kid” Jessica turns to Spider-Man “how did you end up vandalizing my office with post it notes in the first place?”

Not exactly the most subtle introduction to the inevitable “How are you acquainted with the beautiful May Parker?” conversation. But before Jessica can find out, Spider-Man’s personal phone suddenly rings that pretty harp tune she’s heard before. Before Danny goes off on a lecture about leaving phones on silent, Spider-Man answers the call. The two adults leave him to his conversation, listening in because they’re unrepentant gossips. 

“Yes?” He speaks quietly into the phone “No, I'm out patrolling with some friends...well...they asked me if I wanted to tag along and- but it's Friday! I can stay out a little later right? ….Yeah I trust them….Yeah I already did, Jessica, bought me dinner….wha?....uh....Jones..?....but what….ok..? Okay, I'll be home by twelve! Love you!”

Spider-Man hangs up and turns towards the two if them, his face lingering more on Jessica than Danny she had noticed “I have a curfew tonight since my aunt told me she got called in to pick up a shift tonight…Sorry guys”

The kid was scuffling his foot on the ground, looking every bit the kid he apparently is underneath that suit. Danny snorts and claps the boy’s shoulder, “Don't worry about it Spidey, it's more important that you don't disappoint family. We're not holding it against you, I  _ did _ invite you to patrol with me. Just remember that you're always welcome to patrol with us if you want to”. 

“You two act like Spider-Man here has to leave right the fu- uh -right now!” Jessica saves herself from that slip up “We still have two hours before we have to drop you off for your bed time, kid. Let's make the most of it!”

Spider-Man perks up after hearing ‘two hours’ “Yeah! Let keep going and kick some a-!”

“Nuh-Uh! Don't emulate me child,” Jessica cuts him off from swearing “I refuse to be the reason why you're swearing left and right, you just told her my name and I don't think that aunt of yours would appreciate me being a bad influence on you”

“Jess,” Danny says with a sly grin on his face “He can always just say he heard it from the Avengers, you know”

“So you're teaching a child how to lie, then? That is  _ so  _ like your kind, you rich white boys getting away with everything-”

“Oh here we go again with your ‘Rich White Boy’ BS, Jess. I don’t even fully know what you're insinuating!”

“You guys know that I'm already lying by virtue of being Spider-Man, right?” Spider-Man cuts them off, trying to placate the ensuing banter.

“Oh, I do!” Danny tells him “But Jessica here just likes to fuck with me whenever she can!”

“ _ Language _ , Rand!”

“You shut the fuck up, Jones!”

Spider-Man simply laughs at the exchange and hops off of the bench he’s been perching on since they took a break. He starts bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, looking to all the world that he’s about to jump into a boxing match.

“C’mon guys! I got two hours, I wanna kick some more bad-guy bum before I go home!”

And with that, Spider-Man makes his way up the rooftops once again, leaving the two responsible adults behind him.

“Did he just say ‘Bad Guy Bum’?” Danny looks to Jessica.

“Yeah, he did” she replies

“That shouldn’t be adorable”

“But it is”

\---

In the end, they stop a carjacking and another mugging before they decided to start making their way by Spider-Man’s neck of the woods, they separate after Spider-Man asks them to stop following him further. 

“I'll text you guys once I get my new phone all set up!” he calls out before making his way up the rooftops once again. “Thank you so much, Iron Fist!”

“Take care, Spidey!” Danny yells back “Till next time!”

The two of them start heading towards the closest subway station. They made great time reaching the right station that would take them back to Midtown where they agreed to go their separate ways. Danny sat next to Jessica in contemplative silence moving only to glance at his phone when Spider-Man texted the both of them saying he’s made his way home. And receives another one not long after telling them that was supposed to be for his aunt. Danny chuckles and sets his phone back in his pocket.

“I still can't believe that he's so young…” Danny muses aloud, “Too young if you think about it.”

Jessica simply nods, thinking the exact same thing.

“You know,” Jessica looks to Danny after a few minutes of silence “I'm just fucking with you right?”

“Yeah, I know Jess”

“You're not like any of those rich white boys I always compare you to”

“I'm grateful that you think so highly of me, Jess”

“So how about we get a drink?”

Danny sighs, “And here I thought you were being humble for once…”

\---

Jessica had declined Danny and Luke’s offer to go patrolling around Harlem a few nights later. She’d spend a good portion of the day trailing after a client’s brother-in-law who they suspected of money laundering. Unfortunately, she got nothing from following them around and she realizes she has to do some sneaking around work places the next few days, she is not that excited about it. So here she is, sitting on her desk in her office scrolling through places that her current target frequents. She gave an hour later and simply started scrolling through her news feed. Which also had nothing interesting, with the exception of a prison break somewhere in New York. Six inmates involved in some weapons smuggling ring...highly dangerous….

Malcolm walks in while Jessica was halfway through the article with a bag of coffee beans and a bottle of whiskey. He drops them onto her desktop and says with a laugh, “Found these in your front door, I think it was the guy with the post-it notes from before”. 

The bottle of whiskey had a pink note taped on the front thanking Jessica for all her help from before...and for helping their mutual friend. “At least they used the front door this time!” Malcolm jokes while he looked over Jessica’s shoulder.

Jessica feels her face warm and quickly stuffs the note into her drawer. Spider-Man had passed by without her knowing, he was aware that she had been in the office and didn't go through the window like he had the first few times. So he dropped off the gifts by the front door, without alerting Jessica. Did he know that she'd been working and didn't want to bother her? Or was he avoiding the possibility that Jessica will start asking him about May if he stayed around to give her the present? 

The second option seems unlikely, why would Spider-Man avoid talking about their mutual friend? Unless knowing more of his association with May Parker has repercussions for the both of them, then that would entail that May and Spider-Man might have a closer relationship than what Jessica originally believed.

Jessica looks at the calendar on her laptop, it could just be because it's a school night and his aunt didn't want him roaming around so late when he has classes the next day. Yeah, that's probably it.

Jessica sets her thought aside and looks at the coffee and bottle of whiskey on her table, “Hey, Malcolm, ever tried this coffee from this one shop in Queens? It's pretty good with whiskey.”

\---

**Unknown Number:** Hey guys! New phone’s ready!

**Unknown Number:** No more Spongebob

 

**LukeC:** That’s good to hear!

**LukeC:** I don't think anyone's gonna take us seriously with Spongebob Squarepants playing in the background whenever we fight

**Unknown Number:** :(

**DannyR:** I just added you on to my contacts!

**JessicaJ: Same!**

**MattM:** You're on mine now too

**MattM:** make sure that's on silent

 

_ Contact name changed… _

 

**Itsy Bitsy Spidey:** Yes Sir!

\---

She gets a call from Matt at five on a Sunday morning. She had been asleep on her couch after staying up reading off of her laptop for her next job, “I need you to finalize a few things for me before I present this case next week. So hurry up before you go Fake White Girl over in Midtown or something.”

“What the hell Matt?!” Jessica groans through the phone “It's Sunday! What the hell kind of a Catholic are you?”

“An overworked one” Matt says in his deadpan tone and hangs up.

So there she goes, on her way to Matt’s office in Satan's ass crack of dawn on a Sunday morning. Or should it be God's ass crack? It  _ is  _ the Lord's day after all…

Sunday mornings have this particular kind of bustle that Jessica can tell apart from any other day. Weekdays brings around the working crowd, everyone stomping and hustling their way towards wherever it is they need to get to. Mondays tend to be the worse with everyone fresh from the weekend and it trickles down to a dead march of desolation on Fridays when their energy is at its lowest. That is, until Saturday rolls in and most people get a second wind and the streets are flooded with hordes of people their way to somewhere or something to ignore the inevitable coming of Monday. Sundays are the days when people recover from their post Saturday high and somberly march their way back home, or -based on the people Jessica’s currently dodging in the sidewalk- somberly marching to church.

“You should be doing what the old ladies are doing out there,” Jessica tells Matt, in lieu of a  greeting when she arrives at his office.

“Going to church?” Matt answers quirking an unimpressed eyebrow at her.

“No, making me breakfast and a strong ass cup of coffee!” She snaps back “I’m talking about Old Lady Gretchen down the road, she and her other atheist girl friends asked me to have breakfast with them.”

“You can have your strong ass coffee later, Jess” Matt says, “I just need you and May to sign a couple of things for me.”   
  
...Wait what?

“If you want” a voice calls out from somewhere in Matt’s office “I can take you to a good place that serves great omelette and a really good cup of coffee!”

Matt turns and walks back into his office revealing May Parker sitting by Matt’s work table. She gives Jessica a wave and points at the empty seat next to her.

“If you don’t mind!”

“I-I don’t” Jessica stammers as she makes her way to the chair by May “I was about ready to take up Gretchen’s invitation, but I think Matt might actually drag me by the ears.”

“I really would have,” Matt pipes in while taking his seat, “Now if you ladies don’t mind, I would like to just have the both of you sign these for me…”   


It was a pile of documents relating to their statements on the Henderson case and it took a good hour between the three of them to go through everything just so they could sign their names of a couple of pages in between. At the end of it all, Jessica’s eyes were crossing and her stomach growled an unholy growl that made Matt snicker from the other side of the office while he finished organizing his notes. May looks to her, very amused and says “So how about we head out for breakfast?”

“For the love of god, please” Matt says under his breath.

Jessica glares at her friend having heard what he had said, she turns back to May and grins “Definitely! Just, let me talk to my friend here real quick. I’ll see you outside.”   
  
As May leaves for the front door, Jessica stomps her way towards Matt who doesn’t even falter when Jessica levels him with her most potent glare. It’s the sight impairment that makes him immune...

“I can tell how angry you are at me, Jessica”   
  
“You did this on purpose didn’t you?” She growls, Matt’s smug little grin was all the answer she needed. “If this is because of Luke and Danny and their whole ‘coffee date’ bullshit, I’m tossing all three of you off of Stark’s tower!”

“Seriously, Jess?” He says in an exasperated tone, “Yes, it  _ is  _ because of their ‘coffee date’ bullshit. May’s a nice woman, go have breakfast with her or something. It doesn’t have to be anything else but that.”

“But-”   
  
“I am trying to be a good friend to you, Jessica” Matt cuts in, “I am trying to give you the opportunity to make friends with this woman and to see where this will all go. So please just end this bullshit from everyone about taking her out on a coffee date and just fucking take her out on a coffee date already!”

\---

So here they are. In Queens. In a diner. On their coffee date.

Matt’s probably texted the others already. The bastard. 

“I know I just dragged you all the way here without asking if you really wanted an omelette or not” May says looking at Jessica a bit sheepishly. “I'm sorry about that.”

“Don't apologize,” Jessica tells her “I'm serious about being hungry, I'll eat whatever people will put in front of me.”

May looked content with that reply and hails their server, “Can you get us two cups of coffee to start with?”

Their waitress nods with an ‘Absolutely’’ before heading to the back of the diner. 

Jessica watches as the waitress make her way to the back of the diner to make their cup. May is preoccupied with her phone for the moment, texting someone at rapid fire speed. 

It had been months since Jessica had last seen May Parker, and the woman is still as beautiful as she had met her in that clinic. All easy smiles and (as Jessica is delighted to realize) sharp tongue, Jessica had watched her cuss out a man who had tried to take up their seat in the subway by spreading his legs. After a really brutal opinion about his personal balls hygiene, the man looked pretty chastised and thoroughly emasculated.    
Jessica might just be a  _ little  _ bit in love with the woman.

Their server arrives with their coffee and a tray full of sweeteners and cream. Jessica thanks them on behalf of May who's still caught up on her text conversation. May huffs and places her phone on the end of their tabletop, far enough from her immediate reach. 

“Sorry about that,” she apologizes “my nephew just woke up and asked where I was. I told him I was having breakfast with a friend and now he's begging me to order him something, too.”

Jessica felt a little guilty for feeling suddenly so jealous that some brat is going to take over some of her time with May. But she drop kicks that feeling away and says, “So is he eating with us then?”

May shakes her head, “No he'll run by to pick it up, before he goes out to meet with some friends.” 

Drop kick that feeling of relief into hell, too.

The server comes by once again to take their order; some mushroom and vegetable omelette for May, and a Mexican style omelette for Jessica. They also added in a breakfast burrito for May's nephew to go for when he arrives.

“So your nephew's staying over for the weekend or something?” Jessica asks May once the server leaves with their orders.

She shakes her head sadly and takes a sip of her coffee, “No, my husband and I have been raising him since his parents passed away when he was very young.” Jessica can feel herself grow cold at the mention of May's husband...how did she not even  _ consider  _ the possibility that May Parker is a married woman?

“But it's just been Peter and myself this past year since Ben died…”

Okay, Jessica felt like she should just drop kick  _ herself _ down to hell at this point…

“I'm sorry this got depressing all of a sudden, but Peter and I are doing pretty well for the most part.” Jessica turns her attention back to May who ends the conversation a sheepish smile at Jessica who was currently having the worst internal crisis she's had this year. “You really shouldn't worry.”

“Holy shit,” Jessica scrambles trying to recover from her conscience’s metaphorical kick to the nuts “I am so sorry tha-”

“No need to apologize, Jessica,” May shakes her head and reaches out to grip Jessica’s hand, “I brought it up without meaning to. I should be the one to apologize. I shouldn't have said anything so weighted like that to a friend that I'm still trying to know more about!”

The door to the diner opens with a chime and walks in a young man with a heavy looking backpack on his shoulder. He stops as he walks further into the diner and glances around. He looks to Jessica’s general direction and freezes, his eyes wide and surprised as he catches Jessica’s eyes. It was then that May turns to look at the newcomer and waves him down, the look on the kid’s face turned from surprised to panic as May points to an empty seat by her.

“H-hey, Aunt May,” The kid says taking the spot that his aunt had offered him; his head is ducked down, unable to look at anyone in the table, “Thanks for getting me breakfast, I really had a long night last night…”   
  
“It’s no trouble, sweetie,” May tells her nephew as she gives him a quick kiss on the side of his head, “My friend and I have just been catching up on things. Oh! Peter, this is Jessica, the friend I met from my old job. Jessica, this is Peter, my nephew.”   
  
“Nice to meet you, kid” Jessica says giving the kid a quick smile, Peter looks up and frowns at her, a little unsure on how to reply.

“G-good to meet you too, Miss Jessica,” Peter replies in a quiet voice.

“Just call me Jessica, kid.” and with that Peter smiles, a bit more comfortable with the situation. 

A dark sounding tone plays from inside Peter’s bag, making him scramble to retrieve whatever it was. He sets the bag down and fishes out a phone with the ringtone continuously blaring the ominous tune. “Hey?” he answers “Yeah I'm awake, I was just about to have breakfast with Aunt May so I'm gonna be kinda late. Sorry! …. No….M.J. I don't owe the team anything for being late...no I'm not getting you guys breakfast, too! ...I'm broke!” Jessica looks to May a bit confused, May moves her head saying  _ don't worry about it _ “Wait,  _ you _ called  _ us _ for a surprise study session  _ at three in the morning  _ I think  _ you  _ owe  _ us  _ breakfast….Hell no I won't! You're never gonna pay me back!....Oh wait sorry M.J. the food just got here I'm gonna hang up, I'll be there later, okay!” 

Peter hangs up looking very flustered and annoyed. He looks behind him to see their server with their plate of food, as if knowing the waitress was on her way “Aunt May, is it okay if I eat with you guys?” 

May looks to Jessica who shrugs her shoulders, “It's fine with me if it's okay with you”.

“It's okay with me, sweetie, but shouldn't you be going to that study session?” 

Peter shrugs a little smug as he picked up is breakfast burrito from the to-go bag, “I'm feeling a little vindictive this morning, I think I'll take my sweet time with this burrito”.

Jessica chuckles as she starts digging into her dish, “And here I thought my friend was worse for calling at five in the morning. I like your style, Peter” she tells him and May levels her with a reproaching glare.

“Thanks! I learned from the best.” Peter replies looking at Jessica with a knowing smile that she didn’t understand why she was receiving, now May's glare turns to her own nephew with a scolding “Peter! I know you’re not talking about me!”

Peter winces and takes a quick glimpse at Jessica, much to her confusion. “Uh...another friend of mine?” May clearly saw the look Peter gave Jessica and turns her attention back to her. 

“Wait, why are you two looking at me? I don’t know what’s going on...” Jessica falters as she looks between the two of them in utter confusion. Just like the first time at the cafe, Jessica feels like she’s missing something in this conversation.

_ Oooooooh! Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?  _

_ Spongebob Squarepants! _

And just like that, everything fell into place: Spider-Man and May’s relationship, Spider-Man’s reluctance to show up in her office a few nights ago, the avoidance tactics that he kept pulling whenever May gets brought up in conversation, Peter’s apprehensiveness when he walked in, and the quick familiarity Peter suddenly fell into when he sat down, all thanks to a _ fucking Spongebob ringtone _ . Jessica could have slapped herself for not realizing sooner.

Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

Two things happen after that: The entire table erupted with a loud shout of  _ “Holy fucking shit, it's you!” _ from Jessica and a duet of  _ “You didn't know?!” _ from Peter and May. At the same time, a large figure lands in front of their diner and shatters their window with some kind of projectile that exploded on impact. Peter pushes May off their bench and covers himself over her while Jessica picks up their entire table and plants it in front of the window between them and their attacker. 

Jessica looks out the remains of the window to find a man wearing a large pair of mechanical wings. He had already made a considerable amount of damage simply just by landing in the middle of the street. Cars were destroyed from the impact of the explosion, windows were broken, and Jessica can already see people scrambling out of their vehicles to run as far away from the ensuing chaos. The man had some kind of weapon on hand that looks suspiciously like some alien tech grenade launcher. It looked like he had already reloaded and was about to launch another one into the diner.

Jessica immediately jumps out into the street to take on the jackass, in the hopes that she might be able to distract him long enough for everyone in the store to get to safety and for Spider-Man to jump in as soon as he can.

“Peter! Get May and everyone out of here!” 

Peter nods and pulls his aunt to the back of the diner. The staff and other customers are already making their way out the back. Jessica throws the table she was using as a shield right at the man and runs straight towards him. She managed to land a few kicks before the large wings on his back smacks her away and straight back into the store. 

Jessica slams right over the counter and slides backwards behind it.  She groans as she sits herself up, trying to get her bearings once again she finds some of the staff members still are still hiding behind the counter where she landed, too afraid to make a sprint for the back room to safety.

“What the fuck are you people still in here?!” She yells and jumps back up and over the counter ready to start throwing everything she could at the man outside, “You guys better go once I get this guy away from here!”

“Jess, I got this!” Peter yells running back to help the rest of the stragglers “Guys, everybody's out here. Follow me!” 

As soon, as the winged fucker caught sight of Peter he launches the projectile that he had reloaded straight into the building. Jessica who had been anticipating the attack makes a run for Peter and the others and pushes them into the door.

What Jessica and Peter had expected was a big explosion once the projectile hit the floor. This was why the both of them scrambled to cover the stragglers from the worst of the explosion. What they didn't expect was a great screeching noise emitting from it. Jessica, like the rest of the people underneath them had to cover their ears to try and smother as much of the noise as they could. Unfortunately for Peter and his enhanced hearing, the noise was far too overwhelming. His screams were painful to hear and she's sure she'll be hearing it in her nightmares tonight. May’s voice screaming out her nephew’s name was also the last thing she heard before everything faded to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Count this as the first time I've ever written a cliffhanger...as well as a fade to black.
> 
> This took me a while to write up because long story short: Work drags and is exhausting.  
> I have the last part of this arc plotted out, but I haven't written anything out yet. So bear with me, the next chapter might take a while.
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated! Let me know if I need to fix anything!


	6. When Jessica Met May pt. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone’s pissed. Everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author loses all sense of direction in this chapter and goes meta on her own writing. She doesn't know what to think anymore. 
> 
> This was originally a three part arc you guys...what happened to me

 

Third time Jessica met May, it was during a fist fight in an alleyway in Queens.

Now that isn’t exactly the most accurate description of their fated meeting, but it was the tamest way to put it.

Because the third time Jessica met May, it was unholy anarchy on a Sunday night. And she was fucking pissed.

\---

_Adrian Toomes walks into the remains of the diner as Peter Parker fell unconscious_

_The interior of the diner was still, which was a stark contrast to the screams, sirens, and alarms blaring outside. The movement and chaos outside adding to the noises outside was also a contrast of the stillness of the people caught in Adrian’s attack. The glass crunched against his weight while he made his way to the cluster of people that lay unconscious by the back exit, there was the woman who had fought him on the very top of the group. Her body was sprawled over the rest in an obvious but failed attempt to protect the people underneath her, she was the second to the last one to fall under the damage his bomb had inflicted. They’ll all survive, the damage was only enough to knock the group unconscious._

_And it has done its job well enough._

_Adrian picks the woman up on top of the group and throws her across the room, a good distance away from the one who he was after. Just underneath the woman was the boy, it was obvious that just like the woman across the room, he had been trying to protect the others from what they had believed was an explosive. Peter Parker was the last one to fall unconscious and he was also the one he had been looking for. Without second thoughts he picks the boy up and carries him out the broken building and up into the sky, away from what was to come._

_\---_

Jessica gasps awake and right into a seated position after a loud scream woke her up from...wherever she was at. She quickly glances around her surroundings. People scrambling around with gauzes, tourniquets, IV bags, blood bags, and other medical equipment. A woman on her right who was laying on a cot similar to hers was moaning in pain over a large wound on her thigh, the anesthesia has yet to kick in and the line placed on her arm was pretty recent. Jessica looked around more to find others in similar states of injury; she panics and assesses herself to see if she had any major injuries. She sighs in relief, she was sore and a little bruised but she’ll manage. The screams from a young man across the room snaps her back to her surroundings and she swears loudly and jumps out of her cot. _Where were Peter and May?_

Jessica makes for the entrance to the room, which she now realizes was the Emergency unit in a hospital. She weaves her way around several gurneys while dodging oncoming first responders, nurses, and doctors trying to get to their patients. She reaches for the exit to make her way out, when she hears someone shouts her name nearby.

“Claire?” Jessica turns around to look straight at the voice. Claire is running as quickly as she could towards Jessica, she was all decked out in her scrubs while still donning a pair of stained gloves, blood spatter sprayed at the front of her scrub top. “What the hell is going on here?!”

“Jess,” Claire shouts through the loud noises around the room, “You need to lie down! You’ve been passed out for hours, you shouldn’t be running around right now. We couldn’t wake you up at all!”

Claire pushes Jessica to the nearest seat she could find and fished out a sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope from a small pouch around her waist. “You’re not gonna listen to me so at least let me check your vitals at least before you go out there, the guys are already outside helping with evacuation and I've been helping out the first responders, I don’t recommend you going out there considering how you’ve been out for hours, but it's a mess out there and they need some help.”  
  
“Claire, I’m okay. I’ll go out there and help out as soon as I can” Jessica counters as she lets her friend do her vitals check “but are the people from the diner I was at in here too? There was a kid and his aunt that were helping me get people out of the store and I need to know if they’re safe.”   
  
Claire frowns in confusion, “When the paramedics got to the diner, they said they found you passed out along with a couple of civilians. Everyone from the diner is here but I didn't hear anything else.”

Jessica swore under her breath as Claire checked her blood pressure, neither May nor Peter were in here. It was likely that Peter managed to get away from the fight along with his aunt, and was out there helping alongside the others. She asks Claire if Spider-Man has been around, but her friend shakes her head and tells her that Queens’ own hero has been absent. “These are his prowling grounds so it doesn't make any sense that he hasn’t appeared” Claire ponders, “He would be the first one out there fighting off those fuckers”

“Unless he's out somewhere on a school trip and he can't make it here” someone says from behind Claire.

Jessica looks up to see Luke standing in front of them, his clothes are a mess of dirt, dust, and blood; caking over what was Luke’s trademark shirt. His face was stained the same, but it couldn’t cover the fact that the man was angry. “There are escaped inmates out there around 21st destroying everything, the police can’t get close to them because they’re damn near invincible with those weapons they’re carrying, and Spider-Man is missing in action throughout all this!”

“Claire and I were just talking about it,” Jessica says, she doesn’t like the fact that their youngest friend is currently missing and she (and May, Jessica hopes that she’s safe out there) is the only one who knows of his last whereabouts.

“Where the hell did they even get those weapons?” Claire asks, “The last few times I've seen technology like that were whenever the Avengers are involved.”

“Or when Spider-Man got involved with those alien tech dealers a while back” Jessica says suddenly remembering the article from a few nights ago, she could feel her heart hammering against her chest as begins to fit pieces of facts together. “Remember Adrian Toomes and his crew?”

Their attacker had a set of weaponized wings and explosives, and they had deliberately destroyed the diner window she, May, and Peter had sat by. Now, in retrospect, Jessica was sure that they didn’t launch the second grenade until they knew that Peter had been _inside_ the remains of the diner. The fact that Spider-Man has yet to appear in his own home grounds means that while Jessica was incapacitated, Toomes had flown away with Peter; and if Toomes had appeared in that diner _specifically_ for the kid, well...She doesn't like the conclusion she's reaching. Because if she was right: she, Luke, Danny, and Matt are on their own, and it might even remain that way permanently.

“You should hear all the shit they’re saying they want to do to him! Please tell me that Spider-Man is just out of town being a regular kid on a school trip. Because I wouldn’t mind beating the shit out these sons of bitches for him,” Luke says, reaching to a conclusion of his own “I’m seriously hoping that this is all just a terrible case of bad timing, but something doesn’t make any sense, he would have told us if he was going to be gone”.

“There's no way that he could have told us” Jessica could feel the cold dread creeping from her chest, all the way down the pit of her stomach, she was clutching the armrest on her chair hard enough to bend “Because I’m positive that one of those inmates already has Spider-Man”.

“What?”

Jessica snaps her attention towards the new voice near their circle. She stifles a swear when she sees May’s pale distressed face. She looked a little dazed as if she just woke up like Jessica did, she’s swaying a little where she stood still wearing the same clothes that she had worn when they met that morning, with the addition of a few bandages wrapped around her arms that Jessica could see had come from the broken glass from the diner.

“W-what did you say about Spider-Man?”  
  
“Ma’am, I think you should try and lie dow-”, Luke turns towards May attempting to calm her down but May steps away and runs straight to Jessica.

“What did you mean,” May all by dives and clutches Jessica’s shirt tight enough that she could feel May’s hands shaking against her chest, “What did all of you mean about Spider-Man going missing?”

“May-”

“Isn’t he out there with the others?” May’s voice had started to escalate into a shout, “Why aren’t you out there with him?!”  
  
“May, you need to calm down” Jessica tries to placate the panicking woman but May gives her a strong shake against the back of the chair she was sitting on.

“Jessica where the _fuck_ is my nephew?!!” May all but screams at Jessica who could do nothing but grip against the armrest of the chair she sat on.

Thank god for small mercies that no one cared much about a screaming woman in a room full of screaming adults. Or else everyone would have heard May’s tirade and Spider-Man’s subsequent outing. Their little group had gone stock still at May’s sudden revelation with Luke standing behind her on the verge of pulling her away from Jessica. Claire who had been holding her stethoscope had subsequently dropped it on the floor while the inflated cuff on the sphygmomanometer still clung to Jessica’s bicep. Jessica sighs, the feeling of dread was quickly replaced with an aching sadness and pain for the woman in front of her.

“May” Jessica soothes her panicking friend, she places a hand on May’s shoulder “You need to calm down, Spider-Man doesn’t need everyone in here to know who he really is right now…”  
  
“That’s the problem, Jess!” May sobs, “He isn’t even _here_ !”   
  
“May,” Jessica leans forward from the chair and pulls May into a tight embrace “It’s going to be fine. I’m right here, my friends and I are here. We’ll find your nephew for you.”

Even if her and her friends tear down Queens and those inmates to find him.

\---

Claire had grabbed Luke and pulled him away from the two women to give them more privacy. After her sobs turned into quiet sniffles, May was more acquiescent to let Jessica go after reassuring the woman that she’ll be fine for the seventh time and it would be a lot easier to find Peter if there were more people out there to help find him. Jessica places her hands over May’s shoulders once again and brings herself close, “May, It’s going to be fine, we’re going to find Peter once we catch these assholes, alright?” May nods reluctantly at this still anxious, Jessica places her hand on May’s cheek and gently turns her head to face her. “We’re all Spider-Man’s friends and we all care about him. He’s is going to be fine; We’ll look for him and I’ll make sure to drag him back to you after all of this is done, Okay?” May sighs against Jessica’s hand and nods.

“Okay, I trust you guys to bring him back. Just...Take care of yourselves out there, too, okay?”

Jessica nods and Claire was quick to release Jessica from the hospital after that, “Bring our boy home!” she yells at Jessica and Luke as they made their way out to the blockade. Jessica was thankful that Luke had not brought up May’s and Peter’s secret. Jessica didn’t want to share much else unless Peter and May were fine with sharing that information further with everyone else. They moved in a determined silence towards a line of police cars and crowd barriers where Iron Fist, already dressed in his battle garb and mask, was waiting for them.

“Everyone within the district’s already been evacuated to a safe place” Danny tells the two of them the moment they got close enough, “The police said that they’re giving us the go to confront them whenever we’re ready. All we need now is for Spidey to show up and we have enough people to take these jerks down!”

“Unless Iron Man shows up right about now, this might not be a quick fight for us, Danny,” Jessica retorts tilting her head towards the source of the explosions, “It’s the four of us against them”

“Yeah, our friend Spidey isn’t going to be here with us for this, either” Luke tells his friend, “Jessica says one of them already got to Spider-Man.”  
  
Danny immediately snaps his attention eyes wide in disbelief at Jessica who growls in frustration in the whole situation. “There’s just no way!” Danny shouts, “How did they even get a hold of him?!”

“Look, I’d rather we all talk about this once we’re all here,” She snaps at the two men, “I’m only going to say this once and I don’t want anyone else hearing about this. So where the fuck is Daredevil?”

Iron Fist quickly points to a group of policemen who apparently had Daredevil within their midst. Jessica whistles towards the direction of the group, catching Daredevil’s attention. Matt’s head snaps at their general direction and finishes his discussion with the cops around the blockade, his face grim and concealing his anger in this whole situation, “We have four tech powered inmates inside the blockade, it looks like they’re tearing the area up to rile up some attention from our buddy, Spider-Man”  
  
“Wait, where’s the other two?” Jessica points out, the others look at her confused, “Six inmates broke out of prison last week four of them are fucking up the entire district, but where are the other two?”

“The cops have been telling me that they’ve identified four of them around the neighborhood, other than them, no one else has shown up” Daredevil replies.

Jessica’s feeling of dread started to grow even more, and the four of them wince simultaneously as they hear another loud crash and roaring from within the blockade. “Is there someone with a pair of metal wings among the four?” Jessica swears when Matt replies with a shake of his head.

Daredevil frowns, “What's going on, Jessica?”  
  
“One of those bastards have Spider-Man” Luke turns to her with stern look while Daredevil’s posture stiffened and she could hear a quick intake of breath from the man, “Jessica, we’re all here; it’s about time you start talking.”   
  
Jessica sighs and motions everyone closer, “I...know who Spider-Man is,” Jessica pauses when all three men turned sharply at her, “I met the kid in the diner that I was in...Right before a guy with a pair of metal wings blew up the place and took him.” Jessica looks at the three men in front of her  “Look, next to the Falcon, the only other person I’ve heard that has metal wings is that guy Spider-Man fought last year”

Jessica didn’t even need to say it out loud. The fact that that man targeted the diner specifically to abduct a teenage boy, already has some damning implications as to the man’s knowledge of Spider-man’s true identity and what might be happening to the kid he has hostage.

“Hold on, we might just be looking at this wrong” Danny says eyes showing a desperate gleam in them, “Maybe he just grabbed the kid as a hostage without realizing who he really is. Maybe he’ll just use him as a bargaining chip once the other four out there have been subdued, maybe demand a lesser punishment when he gets caught.”

“That could have been a possibility, but you weren’t there, Danny” Jessica counters back, “That kid _is_ Spider-Man, and that fucker knew it, too. He waited until Pe- Spider-Man went back for the stragglers to knock us out and make a grab for him!”

Luke swears, “But that still doesn’t make any sense…”  
  
“I know,” Daredevil adds, “If one of the inmates already have him, then why don’t the other four out there know about it?”

“If I knew who the man who screwed me and my friends over, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell everyone I knew who they are.” Luke says, “Why keep it to yourself and then not share it with your fellow inmates?”

“I don’t know…” The four of them looked at each other, at a loss of a good reason to this whole situation. It wasn’t until another explosion far close to the blockade that they snapped out of it and turned towards the source of the explosion.  
  
Luke sighs as he straightens up his stance, “Missing or not, there’s four of them and four of us, if we can get them away from each other so each of us can fight them one-on-one we can stand a chance in subduing them”

“I’m ready when you are,” Danny walks up to Luke, “Once we get there, we need to be quick in picking up who we want to fight and draw them away.”  
  
Daredevil suddenly tilts his head toward a crowd of onlookers and police men and starts stalking his way towards them “Head over to the blockade, you guys” he calls out to the others “I already have my pick.”   
  
And with that he grabs a cop by the shoulder and turns him around, before anyone in the crowd could say anything, Daredevil plants a solid punch in the man’s face knocking him five feet away. “You have a good disguise going there,” He shouts through the crowd of shocked and gasping people, “But do not _for a second_ believe that you can run from me!”

Daredevil stood in his full demon-esque glory, the crowd had fallen in a fearful silence watching the imposing figure of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen stalk his way towards the man on the floor. The three of them knew that he hadn’t done it on purpose but the light from the police cars and the flames from the broken buildings made him look more terrifying than he already was in the dark. His frustration in Spider-Man’s disappearance had affected him to the point that he is visibly holding his anger back. The stiffness in his movements and the clenching and unclenching of his fists makes it seem he’s ready to tear the man in half. He looked truly like a demon at that moment.

The cop on the floor sits up nursing his injury, but he suddenly _flickers_ and turns into a new person. The man whimpers and makes a break for the fearful crowd and dives straight into them, people began screaming and running away from the shape shifting man and it made for a good cover. The man is already out of sight.

“ _Did you think you can hide from me?!”_ Daredevil roars through the scattering crowd and makes his way up and over everyone by jumping over the police vehicles, in pursuit of the inmate that snuck his way out of the blockade.

“You know how incredible it is to watch Daredevil when he’s angry and it’s not directed at you?” Danny muses to the other two. Jessica and Luke snickered despite the situation, only to sober up as another crash can be heard from a few blocks down.

“Let’s get to the other three as quick as we can!” Luke tells the remaining people in their group.

\---

_Peter wakes up to a not so light impact on his shoulder, it felt as if someone had thrown something in his direction. He winces at the sensation and tries to curl in on himself. The movement it didn’t exactly alleviate the headache that hit him at full force. Peter let out a string of curses that would have made his friend Jessica proud but make his Aunt May frown._

_Peter quickly sat awake at the thought of his aunt, Did May get away from the guy at the diner? Did Jessica manage to get her to safety? He couldn’t remember what happened to them quite well. He knew that his aunt had gotten away, but Jessica had been with him when the man got them with that bomb…Peter suddenly swayed on the spot, dizziness suddenly overtaking him. He shouldn’t have sat up so quick..._

_Movement from the corner of his peripherals caught his attention and he turned to find Liz’s dad perched on a the edge of some crates a few feet away from him, his great metal wings were nearby, ready for him to attach himself into if the need arises….Peter tenses and jumps into a defensive position but falters as his equilibrium couldn't right itself. This was Liz’s dad who he helped put in prison. Liz’s dad who should_ **_still_ ** _be in prison._

_He pauses, eyes blinking in confusion. Peter stares at the man in front of him, his mouth was moving but he can’t seem to understand what the man is saying. He frowns as he shakes his head to clear off the last hints of fatigue from himself. Despite that, it didn’t help much with his continued lack of hearing or the onset of vertigo. Peter tries to clear off his ears with his pinky finger and comes back with blood caked at the tip. Which was then he remembered what knocked him out in the first place._

_“I can’t hear jack shit!” Peter shouts, louder than he intended, his deaf ears made it hard to gauge his own voice “You ruptured my eardrum!”_

_Liz’s dad was momentarily taken aback by the sudden profanity. He recovers quickly and utters out one word clear enough that Peter understood him despite his temporary deafness._

_“Good”_

\---

The three of them dove into separate directions as an SUV crashed towards them. There was a man with a large pair of powered gloves that no doubt was the reason for the flying SUV. “Who the fucking shit are you people?!” the man shouts while he gets himself ready for another attack, he runs towards another car and gives it a solid punch that sends it towards Luke.

Luke was ready for the attack and stops the car with his own hands without even flinching or moving from his own spot. He picks the car up and throws it aside, “Let me handle this guy,” Luke tells Jessica and Danny, he picks up a fallen street sign and holds it as if he's about ready to chop the man's head off with it. “You guys go find the other two.”

“What the fucking shit are you doing here?!” the man yells as he recognized Luke walking towards him, “You get the fuck back to Harlem where you came from, I'm here for that bastard Spider-Man!”

“You sure you got this?” Danny asks Luke as he makes his way towards the swearing inmate.

“He's nothing but a wuss without those gloves, I'm gonna rip those off him and drag his dumb ass back to the cops. You two go ahead and find the others!”

Danny grabs Jessica’s hand and runs away from Luke and the inmate. Jessica turns her head towards Luke for a quick glance to find him already with his hands on his opponent's weapon. The sound of the man’s weapon crunching against Luke’s superior strength and the inmate’s wailing was all Jessica needed to hear before she let Danny drag her to find another inmate.

The next inmate was just a block away spearing through windows and vehicles with some kind of long slender tail coming from the back of a large metal suit the man was wearing. The man left a trail of broken cars, lights, and store buildings in his wake; and he was cackling as he skewered a motorcycle and flings it overhead and into the rooftops where it burst into flames.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Jessica scoffs and tugs her hand away from Danny. She pushes him behind the closest car before the man notices their presence.

“That guy's even more of a little bitch compared to the one Luke’s fighting” Jessica whispers to Danny. “Pretty sure you can bitch slap him out cold.”

Danny nods, “That tail behind him is the most dangerous component on that suit. I know without it, he'll be less dangerous. Jess, I'll distract him, do you think you can disable that tail?”

“If you mean sneak up behind him and pull off that stupid tail then sure, I'll do it.” Jessica answers, positioning herself into a crouch ready to find a good spot to pounce as Danny made a running leap for the inmate.

It was quick work for Iron Fist to disable the suit. After watching Luke quickly lay waste to the man with the enhanced gloves, it was obvious from the beginning that none of these men had much experience. At least not enough experience in going against people like Jessica and the others. Danny lands a few precise kicks against the mechanized suit _without even_ utilizing his chi, he had made sure that every kick or punch landed heavily on a joint mechanism to make the man immobile.

“Jessica! Now!”

Jessica wasted no time and made a run for the mechanized tail, making sure to find a stretch of ground that allowed her no hindrance as she grabs a hold of the tail and she begins to pull. Danny, from his end grabs a hold of the suit itself, and the both of them started to pull the suit apart in a messed up tug-of-war. Jessica could hear the groaning of the suit finally giving way when Danny shouts out a warning and something solid slams straight into her side, sending her far away from Danny.

Jessica slams right into the side of a nearby car, the weight of whatever slammed into her took all the air off of her and she could barely let out a strangled scream. She could hear Danny yell for her but whatever has a hold of her is keeping her torso pinned to the car. Jessica was lucky that her arms weren't pinned down with the rest of her body and she could at least grab a hold of the metal hands keeping her in place. She strains to look up at whoever was holding her.

The man was inside a large dark suit that Jessica was sure she'd seen somewhere in New York, as a 99 cent toy sold in an alleyway. At the very least the suit looks like some larger cheap knockoff of Stark’s Iron Man suit with a shitty paint job and horns. The man inside was staring her down with a look of smugness that Jessica knows he shouldn’t be feeling, considering.

“We were hoping that Spider-Man might show up,” the man says pressing Jessica further into the car doors, she could feel the metal on the car straining against the pressure of the metal hands holding her down, “shit, I was even hoping that Iron Man would make an appearance! And here all we get are you off brand Avengers. So what the hell? This city can't afford to pay for actual heroes or what?”

“Speak for yourself,” Jessica retorts, she plants her feet firmly on the ground and grabs a hold of the claws around her body, “You're the one with a Chinatown knockoff suit or some shit!”

“Do you really think you can beat me?!”

“Fucking watch me, _bitch!”_

The metal bends under Jessica’s hands and in a few tugs the metal hands tear apart like paper. “Jesus Fucking _Christ_ you three are so fucking campy!” Jessica smashes the remains of the suit’s hands to the ground and kicks it across the street “Where the fuck are we? An episode of the Motherfucking Power Rangers in the goddamn nineties?!”

“You damn bitch!” the man in the suit yells, “I'm gonna beat you to a pulp!”

Jessica’s loud groans of frustration echoed across the street.

“See?!” Jessica interrupts jabbing a finger at his direction, “That right there! Right the _fuck there!_ Why the hell are you talking like that? Are there fumes coming off that shit suit that make you talk like Rita Repulsa’s cronies? I swear to fucking god if Ivan Ooze comes out of your ass or if one of you guys turn into a giant: _I am fucking done!_ ”

Luke and Matt had arrived in a hurry when they heard Danny yell for Jessica. Both men stopped and stared mouth agape as Jessica went on with her tirade. Danny had ended up disabling his opponent by himself, a solid punch in the face and a quick pull of the tail and now he's wandered by Daredevil and Luke with a look of bemusement and hands in his pockets.

“Do I want to know what Jess is talking about?” he mutters to the two quiet men next to him.

“You really don't” Luke says with a hand over his mouth trying hard to stifle a laugh. “but she's not wrong though, the more you listen to them: the more they sound like Saturday morning cartoon villains.”

“What the fuck are you supposed to be then? The Rampaging Rhino?!” they hear Jessica yell at the man “Holy shit, just get the hell over here so I can punch you in the face! I have a kid to find!”

And with that: Daredevil, who had been quiet since he arrived, doubles over in laughter.

\---

They're not worth your time 

_Peter reads the note that Liz’s dad- Mr. Toomes gave him. He gives him a bitter look, “So you're saying that those guys who want me dead are not worth my time to fight?”_

_The man nods and writes on the notepad once again:_

They’re half baked petty criminals to threw in jail your friends can deal with them easily 

_He hands him another piece of paper_

Most of them 

_Peter looks up from the note with a bemused expression, “...Most of them?”_

I’m trying to hide you from Gargan, he’s had his eye on you since you and the Feds got him arrested a year ago 

He's more dangerous than the others out there 

_“I don’t even know who he is!” Peter says annoyed, glaring at the man who technically kidnapped him from his aunt and his friends. Mr. Toomes gives him a blank look and writes on the paper again._

The ferry incident? 

_Peter could feel a cold heavy weight settle at the pit of his stomach. He remembered the men in the ferry from last year, he also felt a pang of guilt for the people he had endangered that day. But what’s past has passed and Peter refuses to put himself in another situation where he knows he’s way in over his head. Danny and the others had been a great support whenever the silence from Happy or Mr. Stark’s phone gets too overbearing._

_“Why are you protecting me anyway?” Peter mutters looking away from Toomes, “I got you sent to prison like those guys”_   
  
I owe you one for not telling Liz 

_Peter sees a flash of light from an explosion from something that landed on the rooftop of a building. He looks out into the city where he’s sure his friends are going against Toomes cohorts. Again, Peter feels a pang of guilt. However, this time, it’s for the friends he can’t help out because he couldn’t be there with them._

\---

“I should be embarrassed that Toomes knocked me out this morning” Jessica mutters, “those guys were pussies”.

“Now I know where Peter gets all the cussing from,” May says pressing a gauze a bit too hard against Jessica’s side.

Jessica hisses, “Hey! I'm not the only one he gets from you know”

May gives her a reproaching look, “In the fifteen minutes that the four of you were here together, none of the boys even said _one_ cuss word. _None._ You're on your fifth”

Looking a little cowed, Jessica chose to remain silent. After Jessica took down the fourth inmate and hauled their unconscious bodies back to the police, May and Claire had arrived to help out with the other medics. May, who had quickly donned a pair of scrubs and made her way out with Claire to help the first responders near the blockade, immediately made her way to Jessica and hugged the woman tightly, before apologizing as they both realized that Jessica had a few cut from where the inmate had grabbed her. She takes Jessica and her slightly battered ass into a nearby emergency vehicle to patch up her injury.

“I'm really sorry, May,” Jessica says “I haven't found Peter yet”

May was quiet for a few moments, eyes closed in contemplative silence before she finished up with the dressing she was applying on the wound on Jessica’s side. “Peter’s going to be okay,” she says with conviction, “I trust you and your friends, Jess, you shouldn't be sorry”.

“There still two more out there, one of them has to have Peter.”

“And I know you're going to do your damn hardest to get him back, Jess.” May looks at her in earnest.

Jessica laughs nervously at the other woman, “How is it that we’ve only known each other for literally a few days and you already believe in me so much?”

“Because Peter talks a lot about you four and I can see that he thinks the world of all of you” May keeps her gaze, in all of its honesty and good faith. “So, it’s not that hard for me to trust you considering how you guys care so much for him”

“That’s kind of hard to believe, considering he’s buddy-buddy with Iron Man”

“You guys shouldn’t sell yourselves short, Iron Man doesn’t invite Peter to go out with him and give him free dinner”

“Yeah well, even Danny’s 51% share in his company can’t give Peter a suit as good as Stark’s”  
  
“True…” May concedes, but she had the look of a woman who was about to win an argument “But Peter doesn’t get advice on how to negotiate with people instead of fighting them…”   
  
“He learned that from Luke and Daredevil…”   
  
“Mr. Stark didn’t give him a disposable phone so he could keep his identity safe…” 

“That was Danny and Daredevil…”  
  
“He didn’t learn how to properly fight from Iron Man…” 

“You really should just go and thank Daredevil, he’s actually Spider-Man’s Red Rottweiler Dad, you know.”

“I’m just going to ignore that statement and continue on with telling you guys how a good influence you are on my nephew, okay?”

“Really, I’m the bad influence, I just cussed in front of you like, five times.”  
  
“Jessica...now you’re just deflecting”

“Remember this morning with that phone call from his friend?”

“ _Oh for the love of fuck, take the fucking compliment Jessica!!!”_ Claire screams from nearby checking on Danny’s scrapes and bruises.

Jessica would have kept that conversation indefinitely by latching on to Claire’s outburst to avoid talking about herself to May when Luke made his way back to their group.

“We found Toomes a few blocks south of the blockade, the other inmate is with him.”

\---

“So, where's your other buddy?”

Adrian looks at the boy oddly. He had made deductions about the boy's abilities and figures that he had a fast healing rate and that his hearing would come back eventually. It was obvious that that was the only reason he's elected to stay put with Adrian after explaining himself. It was also obvious that the boy still doesn't trust him, but he didn't have a choice at the moment with his temporary deafness and vertigo from the damaged ear. Plus, Adrian would just grab him back up to the rooftops if he tries to escape. He opens his mouth and pauses before remembering to write down what he was supposed to say.

_What do you mean?_

Peter huffs, “I mean, from here, I can tell there's only four guys. Two guys on the east, one running around the rooftops, and a big guy two blocks down. You're here, so where's the sixth dude?”

Adrian stares at the boy next to him. It was impressive that the boy is able to tell apart his cohorts despite the distance and lack of hearing. Even so, Adrian had convinced the rest of his group that he was out retrieving the rest of his weapons stash instead of stealing Spider-Man away and that he'll be back by the time they started their attack around Peter’s neighborhood. He was confident that the five of them are there. But if what the boy is saying is true…

As if answering Peter’s inquiry, Adrian hears the sound of shoes against the floor of the roof top and the unmistakable whirring of the Scorpion exo suit. He could see the boy next to him visibly tense, sensing the presence behind him. Peter tries to turn around but Adrian grabs him by the shoulders and covers him with the jacket he had taken off during the past hour.

“Wha-?” Peter tries to say before Adrian covers his mouth.

“You've been holding off on us Adrian! You should have told me Spider-Man was here!.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was trying to make these dudes the Sinister Six, but then I realized half way through writing the fight between Jessica and the 'Rhino' that I was not doing the Sinister Six justice and I started telling myself how campy the dialogue were starting to sound and that entire scene with Jessica was born. That also entailed a massive rewrite of that entire scene.
> 
> Thank you everyone for being so patient! I'm almost at the home stretch for this arc so now I can move on to other arcs!
> 
> Holidays are coming up and I'm hoping to write a few to fit the holidays.


	7. Intermission: The Obligatory Christmas Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is a Christmas chapter. 
> 
> Merry Christmas everyone!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, we interrupt a big ol cliffhanger with an obligatory Christmas chapter!
> 
> Oh yeah, heed the 'Non-Linear Narrative' tag, because this is set months after Jessica and May got together.

Christmas for Jessica has always been uneventful, at the loosest of definitions.

Christmas in the recent years had been an exercise of being bombarded by the decorations that pop up come mid October and actively ignoring it.

“We haven't even celebrated  _ Halloween!”  _ Danny complains glaring at a candy cane someone had given him like it had been the one to actually murder his parents “I'm sure it wasn’t like this before!”

“This is all the work of good old Commercialism” Luke mutters his back completely turned away from the Christmas shit, “Companies are trying to be subtle by calling it the ‘Holidays’ to get everyone in the mood but they know it plants the idea of Christmas in everyone's heads the moment commercials start throwing around that ‘H’ word. All they want is that spike in sales at the end of the year because people are trying to get ahead of Christmas shopping”

“You mean ‘Holiday Shopping’” Jessica butts in.

“Shut it, Jess”

“At least, Matt here's safe from all the Christmas deco bullshit” Jessica deflects the ire with ease, “He's blind!”

“For God’s sake, Jess…”

“If I have to smell pine cones and peppermint before pumpkin spice season is over, I'm shoving a candy cane up someone's ass.” Matt mutters before taking a sip from his cup of coffee.

“How's your pumpkin spice latte, Matt?” Luke leers at the cup, like it's the prime example of everything that was wrong with the Holidays.

“Fucking good and in season, Luke!”

Christmas had also been a trial of character by keeping tabs on who she plans on giving out gifts for. She had made a short list of people; Malcolm and Trish obviously on that list as priority (after last year’s incident), and this year it had steadily grown to include Matt, Luke, Danny, and Claire… and then Peter and May…

Christmas was also a challenge in keeping up with social obligations. Christmas parties were not her cup of eggnog (“Jess. No” Claire’s glare was withering, but May laughing next to her was worth the pun.), and she's glad to work independently because she doesn't have to worry about company parties. It's just that everyone else does and being friends with a guy like Danny Rand, whose name is literally the company, it means that she gets an invitation and an invitation for a plus-one. 

“I don't know, Dan,” Jessica stares at the invitation between her fingers hoping the cold wind rips it away from her hand and sends it flying “What the hell do I do in parties like these anyways?”

Danny shrugs. Such a helpful host.

“It's a good way to expand your list of clientele,” Matt says gladly accepting his invitation from Danny, “chat some employees up, see who needs your expertise in private investigating; and then refer them to me if anyone needs legal representation”

“Sounds like a solid gold plan, Matt” Jessica replies, “Now if you could just convince me to go”

“It's open bar” Danny replies as quick as a poorly made decision.

“I'm in”

\---

 

“So Danny invited me to this company Christmas party next Saturday…” Jessica begins to say.

“I'm in” May interrupts as quick as a woman trying to get away from professional obligations.

Jessica blinks, a bit thrown off by the response “Whoa, that was quick.”

“But, May” Peter frowns and says from his and Ned’s spot in the living room, “isn't next Saturday  _ your  _ work Christmas party?”

“Exactly, sweetie!” May says, “Hey, Ned, do you wanna sleepover next weekend? I don't want to leave Peter alone while Jess and I are out.”

“Er…” says a boy who's caught in a woman's bid to escape obligations.

“How about  _ I  _ sleepover at Ned’s next weekend?” Peter says saving his friend from answering, “That way you guys won't have to worry about leaving me alone or coming home early”.

“I don't know why they have to worry about you” Ned looks at Peter in confusion, “You're….you!” he finishes lamely pantomiming Spider-Man’s web slinging

“That's exactly why, Ned” Peter retorts copying the same motion. “So I take it no Spidey business for me, May?”

“Minimal”

“Wait,” Jessica frowns at her girlfriend “Why do you want Peter out of the way anyway?”

“Babe,” May's faux sweet look promises mischief and possible mayhem “This is Rand Enterprise, they're gonna have high end booze; I want to turn up!”

Ned’s jaw drops at May's announcement as if it's so uncharacteristic of the woman. The other two in the room knew better; Jessica glances at Peter who glances back, a quick second look between kindred souls who in the past have seen the hot mess that is an inebriated May Parker. The two spare a look at the woman in question and Peter grins. 

“Okay, Aunt May” Peter laughs and turns to his best friend, “I know when I'm not needed. So is it okay if I crash at your place next week, buddy?”

“Sure,” Ned nods “I'll have the bong if you bring the weed.”

Peter and Jessica rolls their eyes while May shouts “WHOOO!  _ Turn up!” _

\---

 

For the first time in god knows when even Jessica’s affected by this shift in mood. Anything could set her laughing and giggling; Like, hearing Spider-Man do his impersonations of the Avengers when he thinks no one can hear him. May accidentally swearing in the living room in front of Peter’s friends. It was taking quite a lot to put Jessica in a foul mood this season.

Not even stupid teenagers spreading stupid rumors... 

Ned, for someone who is not even invited to the Rand Enterprise’s party, is excited for the coming Saturday. Chalk it up to the fact that it's a big fancy party technically hosted by one of New York’s famous heroes and that Peter’s sweet Aunt May would go out for some booze and a good time with her badass girlfriend, Jessica. So he spends a better part of the next week telling everyone in the Decathlon team (despite Peter’s kind pleas to shut the hell up). So like the one douchebag who deliberately fucks up a nice innocent game of Telephone, Flash lets the word spread about how Peter’s hot aunt is going out to one of Tony Stark’s famous parties with her equally hot girlfriend and how they're already invited to a threesome with Iron Man. Or a gangbang with the rest of the Avengers, depending on who else is spreading the fucking word.

“ _ I am  _ so _ sorry _ ” was all Ned was able to tell May and Jessica that Thursday night when Peter physically dragged his best friend to his apartment. “I was just so excited for you two!”

“Ned,” May sighs as Jessica laughs herself sick in the kitchen “I'm flattered that you're excited on our behalf, but the next time can you  _ not  _ share anything to the Decathlon Team?”

“Okay, I will, I swear!” Ned implores, “I never expected it to be worse than that one movie date they caught you guys on!”

Peter groans, “Oh god, can we  _ not  _ bring that up again?”

“If we have to hear from the principal about our dates again I swear…” May mutters, “Is there anyway we can stop the rumors?”

“MJ’s got it pretty much handled,” Peter replies,”I don't really want to know how she did it.”

“...you two aren't gonna cancel on the party now, are you?” Ned asks, sounding a little pitiful.

“Why the fuck would we  _ not  _ go?” Jessica scoffs “why should some brats who can't even pay for their own toilet paper affect my decision to get wasted?”

“You got a point there…” says Ned, a child who has never paid for toilet paper.

“Can I tell everyone that at school tomorrow, Jess?” Peter asks Jessica, a bit too excitedly. 

“Go right ahead!” 

“No. Jess. No” May snaps, swatting her girlfriend’s arm.

Jessica simply laughs, “Babe, I don't know about you; but  _ nothing  _ is stopping me from having a few shots of Panty Droppers”

“Babe,” May walks up to Jessica and tugs at her shirt “I'm hoping those Panty Droppers  _ live up _ to their name.”

“ _And we're done here!”_ Peter shouts dragging Ned with him out of the apartment. 

“Have fun you guys!” Ned calls out from out the hallway. “Enjoy those Panty Poppers!”

“ _ Ned!” _

\---

 

Just like in the past years, Christmas was a bit of a blur. Like, forgetting the days because you're so caught up shit creek, and then scrambling to get to an open store half awake/sober to get a present for Trisha and Malcolm. Jessica ended up buying them a pair of socks and a pack of Milky Ways. She gave the presents stuffed in a bag that says Happy Birthday with ‘Jesus’ scrawled underneath it. Malcolm thought it was a riot, Trisha didn't.

What was she talking about, again?

Oh, right… blurs.

Anyways, this year, it's a special kind of blur. That type of blur that happens when you're anticipating something awesome and you just let the days pass you by. Next thing you know: It's that day and you go out to hang with friends and end up blackout drunk, so  _ that  _ night is a blur now, too. Yeah. That kind of blur. 

Jessica remembers bits and pieces as if her memories were snippets of old style film that was left on the cutting room floor, and picked up the next day and the editors go ‘huh...why did we cut  _ that  _ part out? That shit was  _ good _ ’. Yeah, that kind of bits and pieces….

Yeah...

 

Jessica might be a  _ bit  _ drunk…

 

“Hey babe?” May slurs from Jessica’s shoulder.

“Yeah, babe?” Jessica says, smiling as she pulls May out of the crevice of the couch and her body that her girlfriend buried herself in.

“I’m drunk”

“Everyone in the room can see that” Matt mutters from across the room.

“Hey babe?” May asks for the tenth time that hour

“Yes babe?” Jessica replies in exasperated fondness, her head lolling towards May 

May's reply was mumbled and incoherent, Jessica laughs shakes her head pulling the other woman close to her in an embrace. “I'm capping you off for tonight, babe”

“ _ Both  _ of you should be capped off” again, that was Matt.

After May had tried to teach the entire HR department about Vitamin C, antibiotics,  _ Clostridium deficile  _ and how it’s imperative they wash their hands; Jessica and Luke had to strong arm May out of the party and into Danny’s rented limo and straight into Jessica’s home. Claire and Luke were in the kitchen collecting bottles of water for everyone. Danny, who had thoroughly enjoyed himself after a few of the now Legendary Panty Droppers and several rounds of beer pong with Luke (instigated by Jessica), he had tagged along with May in her drunken crusade to promote hand hygiene. The man was now draped on his side over Matt’s lap with his face pressed against the couch cushions. Matt, the only sober one in their group, seems unfazed by the dead weight on his lap, turns his head around the room and says.

“Don’t know about you people, but I had a productive night!” he says referring to the business cards he had received and given out the entire evening.

“ _ We  _ had fun,” Luke walks in with an arm full of water bottles “Loved the part where May lectured security about lactation”

“I don’t know, Luke” Claire trails in handing May and open bottle of water “I thought you, her, and Jessica trying to start a flip cup match with the interns was hilarious”   
  
“That’s because I flipped a cup out a window”

“That’s exactly why, honey”

“C-diff is a terrible epidemic!” Danny shouts, the back of his head slamming against Matt’s cheek when he shot up from his lap “No one deserves to go through something so terrible while already so vulnerable!”   
  
“I know, Dan” Claire drags the man off of Matt’s lap and hands him another opened bottle “That’s why you always wash your hands…”

“Babe?” May mutters, staring at the bottle of water like it's revealed which religion got it right.

Jessica was to busy drinking her bottle of water to give a verbal reply and settled with a noise from the back of her throat.

“We weren't in a gangbang were we?”

Jessica, along with Luke who had been drinking from his own bottle, spat out the rest of their water. 

“What now?” Danny looks to May eager to learn more from the woman.

“Just...go back to sleep for my sake, Danny” Matt whispers to the other man while he pats his shoulder. He wrestles Danny into a side lying position with a pillow under his head, while his legs are positioned over Matt’s lap.

“Do we want to know?” Claire looks to May while she pounds on Luke’s back.

“Stupid fucking teenagers” May grumbles taking a swig from her water. 

\---

 

_ Bang _

_... _

_ Bang _

**_…_ **

**_Bang_ **

 

**_…_ **

  
  


**_BANG_ **

 

The banging on the front door needed to stop. Like. Yesterday. Jessica was ready to let the fucker in and toss them out the window. If it weren't for the fact that May is sprawled over her, with cold hands underneath Jessica’s shirt (which would have been welcome had said hands been warm). She’s pretty sure May’s wouldn’t appreciate the sound of a shattering window and the screams of whoever it was is at the door.

 

**BANG**

 

Jessica pushes May off of her and she throws herself off of the bed. The knocking on the door continues even as she started undoing all the locks, “I hope you like the taste of pavement you-” Jessica pauses expecting either Malcolm or even Danny, she moves her glare a few inches lower and she swears.

“If Mr. Stark or any of the Avengers are in this apartment, I'm telling Peter to file for emancipation” says the Spawn of the Devil, aka: Michelle Jones.

No relation.

“Don't worry, kid” Jessica grumbles against the office door “No holes were filled last night.”

“...I'm a minor, Jess” MJ says deadpan “I don't think I'm old enough to be hearing this”

“Fuck off” She snaps “Aren't you supposed to be at your internship?”

“I  _ am _ doing my internship and my boss told me to check on you” MJ says walking into the apartment “He wants to see if you and Peter’s aunt are still alive”

“Your what now?” 

“My  _ boss _ , you know him: lawyer, glasses, secretly ripped as hell, also blind as all hell but I'm pretty sure he doesn't need that stick he swings around literally everywhere…”

“Ah”

A distressed wail from Jessica’s room makes both of them jump, “May?!” Jessica shouts as she runs to her room with MJ right behind her, “Babe, what’s wrong?”

May was by the night stand, muttering swears while her arm is elbow deep inside her purse. “Shit, shit shitshit” She hisses “It’s not here!”

“What's wrong, May?” Jessica rounds to May, hand on her shoulder “Did anything get stolen last night?”

“I-I don't know” she says, still distracted with what she was looking for, “I was going to give it to you last night before we left the party…”

“...give what?”

May finally looks up and gives her a harried look, “Jess, it’s Christmas Eve.” she says, “I was gonna give you your present!” 

Jessica’s worried thoughts screeches to a crashing halt and dies in flames.  _ Shit. It's Christmas Eve.  _

She hasn't bought presents...for Danny and Matt yet.

“May” Jessica “babe, it's fine if you can't find it right now. We'll contact Danny later to ask around the venue and the limo service if they have a lost and found.”

May groans in frustration, her hands shaking the purse with enough force that a few items flew out of it, “I wanted it to be special!” she yells, “Jess, it's your first Christmas with us so Peter and I made you something special!”

“May-”

“Guys,” MJ’s voice cuts in “I think this is what you're probably looking for.”

Both women turn to find MJ’s hand waving a wrapped present by the doorway. “I know you said ‘no holes were filled’ and anything. But I know how lesbian sex works, and I would really like to look at Peter straight in the eye when I see him in school next semester.”

“ _ Jess, what did you tell her”  _ May hisses smacking Jessica by the arm with her purse, “MJ, honey, we're decent. You can come in!”

“Okay cool” MJ walks in with the present in hand “Here Ms. P., Peter said you forgot it back home and he asked me to give it to you.”

“Oh thank god!” May exclaims, taking the present from MJ in quick strides across the bedroom, “MJ, thank you so much!”

“You're welcome, Ms. P.” MJ replies “I need to head back before my boss starts wondering if Old Lady Gretchen from down the road asked me to have lunch with her and her friends again”

“Sure kid” Jessica says, “Now go scurry back to your boss, or Satan, or something”

A quiet moment passed between the two women as they waited for MJ to leave the apartment. Both of them looked at each other and laughed.

“Peter asked her to check in on us didn’t he?” May looks at her girlfriend with a grin “Matt wouldn’t let an intern work on Christmas Eve”

“Better hope not,” Jessica says as she yawned, “it wouldn’t be very Catholic of him if he did that.”

“Jess, you need to stop poking fun of Matt like that!”   
  
“But if I do, I’ll only have Danny to make fun of!”   
  
“You don’t do it to Luke or Claire”   
  
“Luke’s to perfect, and Claire just scares the hell out of me.”   
  
“Sure, hun” May laughs, walking out of the bedroom and into the kitchen “how about we go make breakfast and then I’ll give you your present?”

“How are you not even hungover right now?” Jessica follows her to the kitchen, snagging her present for May she discreetly hid in her dresser.

“Make no mistake, my head is pounding and I will kill a man for coffee and some eggs right now” 

They made quick work making some scrambled eggs and toast with Jessica manning the stove, and May brewing some coffee and forcing Jessica to drink more water. While they sat by the kitchen counter eating their breakfast, both women eyed the wrapped gifts that each of them had placed on the table by each other. May’s was in a neatly wrapped Christmas wrapper, small enough to look like a pocket sized notebook. Jessica eyes hers, it was significantly smaller in size than May’s gift and she’s beginning to feel the slow rise of anxiety that she felt when she first eyed the gift from the store,  _ is May going to like what Jessica got her? _

When they finished cleaning their plates in the sink, the two of them sank back to their previous seats and eyed the gifts they were holding, too hesitant to give them to each other. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Jessica takes a  _ deep _ breath and holds her hand out to give her gift to May.

“Here…” She says rather lamely.

May’s smile was bright and flushed as she takes the small present from Jess. Meticulously but swiftly, she takes the wrapping apart, she pauses once she sees the box underneath the wrapping. It was a small, flat velvet box with the name of the jeweler emblazoned on the lid in silver letters. She opens the lid with slightly shaky hands, and with a  _ snap _ the box opens and  her eyes widened.

“Oh my god, Jess…” May gasps, “these are beautiful!”

She pulls the earrings out of the box and quickly hooks them into her ears. They were a pair of silver earrings shaped to look like teardrops, there was a slight bend to the wide end of the tear that cradles a black pearl in each earring. When Jessica had first laid eyes on them at the jeweler she had walked into during one of her P.I. jobs, her first thought had been how fucking expensive it was. Followed with how it would look amazing on May, and without much internal debate she convinced the employee on the store to hold it for her until she got paid for the job she was currently hired for. The moment the money transferred into her bank account, she was on her way back to the jeweler with full intent to buy the hell out of those earrings.

“Babe, what do you think?” May asks turning her head side to side so Jessica could have a look at the earrings.

“Girl, I  _ knew _ they would look perfect on you” Jessica murmured, her voice soft but full of adoration for the woman in front of her.

“Jess, thank you so much for these” May leans forward to kiss Jessica on the cheek, she lets the kiss linger for a bit and Jessica turns and reciprocates with a kiss on the lips.

“May, wait- what about mine?” Jessica whispers after she broke the kiss.

“OH! Wait, here it is” May says, a little flustered from the distraction. She brings the chair she had been sitting on to Jessica’s side before settling in to give her the present.

Jessica was quick to realize that it  _ was  _ a small sized book inside the wrapping, but she was a bit caught off guard by how heavy it was. As gently as she could, she made quick work of the wrappings and stares; blown away by the small photo album that was underneath the wrapper.

It was a small album of the times they went out on dates, and May stops them to take a picture. Or times when Peter had been around to take pictures of them around hers’ or May’s apartment. The time during their first date, when May had asked the barista in the coffee shop they first met in to take their picture. There were a lot more photos of the two of them (with Peter occasionally present), but the most recent being one taken with her, May, and Peter skating during the first day of winter break for the students. Jessica reaches the final page of the book and stops, her eyes widened even larger than May’s. It was a key taped to the last page of the album.

“Holy shit. . . is this?” Jessica breathes, not believing what she’s seeing.

“It’s a key to the apartment!” May confirms Jessica’s short second doubt.

“But-!”

“Babe,” May cuts in before Jessica could even speak “We’ve been together for months. My nephew and I trust you and we care for you as much as you care about us. Peter and I thought that maybe we’d like to see you around our home more often.”   
  
“What about this place?” Jessica asks referring to her own apartment and office, “I don’t know if it’s safe for you or Peter if I move in. My job might bring the wrong people to your place.”

“Are you forgetting that I have Spider-Man in the same apartment?”   
  
“Holy fuck you’re right…” Jessica quietly laughs at that.

“You don’t need to move in unless you really want to, or when you’re ready” May answers pulling Jessica closer to her in an embrace “You can do whatever you want, Jess. I’m giving you this key so you know you have another home you can go to, and I’ll be there for you!’

Jessica could only reply with a huff that almost sounded like a sob against May’s chest. Not long after, Jessica wraps her arms around May and holds her tight.

“May, thank you so much for trusting me with this…”   
  
“Jess, you’re family the moment you walked into my home that first time, I’m just making it a little more official!”

“...Best Christmas present, ever.”   
  
“You mean ‘So far’”   
  
“You really want to keep me for that long, huh?”

“Fuck yeah, babe”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I actually finished this right on Christmas Day. I've been trying to get this chapter done for a long while but work and all the holiday stuff keeps leaving me too exhausted to write anything extensively. I literally wrote the scene between MJ and Jessica during a really bad traffic congestion while driving home, because that was the only time that I could write! Not safe I know, but what was I supposed to do when I was stuck in traffic that didn't move for twenty freaking minutes?
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.  
> Please be patient with the next chapter, I'm only 1/4 of the way to finishing it!

**Author's Note:**

> It's been literal years since I've written a fic, and I'm so excited to share this with everyone. 
> 
> Special thanks to SlitheredFromEden for inspiring me to write this! I hoped everyone liked it, because I'm planning on writing a few more chapters of this.
> 
> Please tell me what you guys think!  
> I would really appreciate the feedback.


End file.
